AI Industry Associate/Lead

futureof-life; United States; Remote; USD 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The Future of Life Institute seeks an AI Industry Associate/Lead to shape a pro-human path for AI development, emphasizing controllable, verifiable, human-centered tools and governance. The role involves engaging with policymakers to align AI innovation with safety regulation, and reporting to the Head of European Policy and Research.

Location is flexible, with a preference for Europe-based candidates or those willing to relocate.

Responsibilities

• Engage with policymakers on how AI innovation and safety regulation can go hand in hand.
• Develop and advocate a credible strategy for a pro-human path for AI development.
• Collaborate with the Head of European Policy and Research to shape policy engagement and messaging.

Job description

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is hiring an AI Industry Associate/Lead to develop a vision for a pro-human path for AI development, framed around controllable, verifiable, human-centered AI tools, as opposed to the development and adoption of maximally autonomous general AI systems. The AI Industry Associate/Lead will engage with policy makers on how AI innovation and safety regulation can go hand in hand.

We are open to hiring a range of seniorities for this role. Exact title and scope will reflect the successful candidate's experience.

This role will report to our Head of European Policy and Research.

Who we are

FLI educates and engages lawmakers, key stakeholders, and the general public about transformative technologies and their implications. We advocate for policies and approaches that mitigate catastrophic risks while advancing positive futures for humanity.

Humanity stands at a fork in the road with AI. One path races to replace humans as creators, caregivers, decision-makers, and workers-threatening our economy, security, civil liberties, democracy, and the human experience. But a better path exists: trustworthy, controllable AI tools that amplify human capability, strengthen institutions, and help us solve problems we cannot solve alone.

This role will focus on developing and advocating a credible strategy for AI that does not depend on building maximally general, autonomous systems to replace humans wholesale. Instead, we can build an economically powerful alternative rooted in reliable, verifiable, controllable, human-directed, and purpose-driven AI.

Location: We are happy to consider candidates in any location, but would have a preference for those based in or willing to relocate to Europe.

Application Deadline: 15th November 2026. We may move this role to rolling applications after this deadline.

Start Date: We'd like the chosen candidate to start as soon as possible after accepting an offer.

FLI aims to be an inclusive organization. We proactively seek job applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. If you are passionate about FLI's mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even though you may not check all the boxes, please still apply. We would appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

Questions may be directed to [e-mail].

About the Future of Life Institute

Founded in 2014, FLI is an independent non-profit working to steer transformative technology towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks. Our work includes grantmaking, educational outreach, and policy engagement.

Our work has been featured widely, including in The Washington Post, Politico, Vox, Forbes, The Guardian, the BBC, the Economist and Wired.

• Superintelligence Statement, an open letter calling for a prohibition on the development of superintelligent AI until there is strong public buy-in and scientific consensus that it can be developed safely and controllably. The letter has been signed by more than 130,000 people, including Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Steve Wozniak, Richard Branson, Steve Bannon, Prince Harry and Susan Rice.
• The Asilomar AI Principles, one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles.
• The Pro-Human AI Declaration, a document with five guidelines on how AI development must be centred on humanity first, created during a meeting of bipartisan civil society groups spanning faith, labour, and think tanks.
• How would a nuclear war between Russia and the US affect you personally?- A scientifically accurate simulation showing the consequences of nuclear war, with over 6 millions views and a feature in Time Magazine.
• AI Safety Index - an objective rating of AI companies on key safety and security domains, as judged by experts in the field.

FLI is a largely virtual organization, with a team of approximately 40 distributed internationally, mostly in Europe and the US. We have four offices: Campbell in California, Brussels in Belgium, London in the UK, and Washington DC. We meet in person as a full team twice a year.