Geoffrey Irving announced his departure from the UK AI Security Institute to return to the Bay Area and establish a new nonprofit dedicated to AI alignment research. He joined AISI as Research Director in April 2024 after leaving DeepMind in December 2023. During his two-year tenure he contributed to work on scalable alignment and model transparency.
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
Users congratulated Geoffrey Irving on leaving AISI to launch a new nonprofit AI alignment organization, praising his service and expressing excitement for his future contributions.
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Geoffrey left DeepMind to serve in government. For 2 years, he has done work of national and global consequence - at genuine personal cost. It is the kind of choice more of the best technical minds should be making. Thank you, Geoffrey - Britain has been fortunate to have you!
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
The worry about sacrificing future career advancement is super fake, FWIW. People do worry about that, but like, I’m not that worried that I came out of this with a worse reputation and neither should others. :)
In future years, when Britain’s AISI becomes more well known in general political and public life, commentators, analysts and biographers will write of the men and women who worked on its founding and success.
They sacrificed salaries, traditional career advancement and in some
Full reflections in blog form if you don’t like tweet threads!
https://naml.us/post/reflections-on-aisi
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
I left DeepMind to join the UK AI Security Institute as a Research Director in Dec 2023 and started in April 2024 (time for family travel, wandering around London, and interval arithmetic). The past 2 years have cemented AISI as my favourite job to date!
https://github.com/girving/ray-render
Full reflections in blog form if you don’t like tweet threads!
https://naml.us/post/reflections-on-aisi
You're one of my favourite people, Xander! I will be sad to get fewer hours with you!
@geoffreyirving is an exceptionally strong researcher and also an exceptionally good person. We'll miss him at AISI. Excited for what he does next!
@geoffreyirving Thanks for your exceptional work -- you have shaped the world.
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
@geoffreyirving ❤️
@geoffreyirving Thanks for your exceptional work -- you have shaped the world.
AISI is a hugely impactful place, especially for Research Director-level folk! We have a deep bench of excellent, driven talent; the ability to drive research on catastrophic risks or large-scale societal impacts that translates unusually directly into policy and action; …
I have mixed feelings! It is right for family reasons and I’m excited for my next phase, but I love AISI and will miss it! My reasons to join stand: safety progress is slow, coordination is under-resourced, and governments have a key role in coordination.
https://www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/why-i-joined-aisi---geoffrey-irving
Thank you, Ian! It took Ian a couple tries to convince me to join, and I've very thankful you persevered. A shame in hindsight I didn't get to the right answer a few months earlier in summer 2023! ❤️
Geoffrey left DeepMind to serve in government. For 2 years, he has done work of national and global consequence - at genuine personal cost. It is the kind of choice more of the best technical minds should be making. Thank you, Geoffrey - Britain has been fortunate to have you!
Likewise, Joseph! It was very fun to help you design and build out the Model Transparency Team, and it’s a neat example of how AISI mixes research (what techniques will work) with the risk mitigation story (how will the decision process handle uncertain scientific evidence). ❤️
It's been a pleasure working with you Geoffrey!
Geoffrey is an amazing leader and colleague. It is bittersweet to see him leave AISI, but I’m excited about his new research initiative!
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
Geoffrey's work on AI alignment has been an inspiration, all the best for your new endeavors in the bay area!
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
A bunch more reflections, but awkward to chop into 280-character form. Please see my personal post for the rest!
https://naml.us/post/reflections-on-aisi
…and lots of access to very senior government decision makers who want to understand AI and influence its course. Please reach out if interested! I will continue on in an advisory capacity at AISI and am eager to pitch interested folk. :)
@geoffreyirving excited about your new org, look forward to running into you more around the bay
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
@geoffreyirving @boazbaraktcs Welcome back to SF and thanks for all your service!
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
a big loss 😭
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
@geoffreyirving Grateful that AISI caused our paths to cross :) I’ll miss occasionally seeing you around, tho not nearly as much as Benjamin will miss you!! Good luck with the new org 🥲
@geoffreyirving sad to see you leave AISI, Geoffrey! Really enjoyed reading about your and Yoshua Bengio’s important work in @scmallaby’s Infinity Machine.
Hope your next venture will continue this important work.
@geoffreyirving Wonderful news! Looking forward to meeting when you're here in the Bay!
A bittersweet announcement! For family reasons, I will be leaving AISI soon to move back to the Bay Area. I will be starting a new nonprofit alignment research org (more to come).
I will miss this place! Here are some reflections about my time at AISI. 🧵❤️
