A victory for common sense: The US government cancels DEEP VZN, a controversial virus-hunting program - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists thebulletin.org/2023/09/the-us…

I'm proud to work alongside Jess Whittlestone Jess Whittlestone as she does absolutely stellar work shaping AI policy to combat extreme risks at CLTR The Centre for Long-Term Resilience. Exciting to see her listed in the Time100 AI - thoroughly deserved! time.com/collection/tim…

Congratulations to davidad 🎇 who will be joining ARIA to serve in its first generation of Programme Directors! open.substack.com/pub/ariaresear…

A framing that I apply to most problems in the world 👇 1️⃣ We have made progress on many problems 2️⃣ These problems are still massive – we should be unsatisfied with where we are 3️⃣ We need to drive change to do better From Max Roser's article: ourworldindata.org/much-better-aw…

Cassidy Nelson and I have released a new AI:bio piece exploring: 1. The potential implications of AI on the BW development risk chain. 2. How capabilities (and consequently, risks) may vary across subcategories of AI-enabled biological tools. Read here: longtermresilience.org/post/report-la…

LIVE: The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech on the risks and opportunities of AI x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

This is a useful (and impressively quick!) analysis, though this is mostly assessing companies' *stated intention* to comply with best practices, not evidence of them actually doing these things - so a bit overoptimistic to say they are already meeting best practices

Today I'll be on a panel speaking on opportunities and risks arising at the intersection of bio and AI AI Fringe alongside: Defra Chief Scientist Anna Marie Wagner Matthew F. McKnight Matilda Rhode Looking forward to the event! aifringe.org/events/digging…

The Centre for Long-Term Resilience Matthew F. McKnight We need to determine what we want people to have access to, and who is a "legitimate user" of the kind of data generated by the convergence of AI and biology. In biology, we can look to other sectors to apply the control measure that decrease risk. Cassidy Nelson The Centre for Long-Term Resilience

Excellent closing plenary comments by my CLTR The Centre for Long-Term Resilience AI counterpart, Head of AI Policy Jess Whittlestone at Bletchley for #AISafetySummit from 52:00. We need more oversight in AI development, and there are major roles that need to be filled by governments and third parties.

Last month, CLTR ran a workshop for Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on synthetic nucleic acid screening and overcoming implementation challenges. In a new CLTR report, Cassidy Nelson and Sophie Rose present the workshop’s key findings and recommend a stepwise solution. buff.ly/3GiAxME

Just released: The US & UK have announced a new Strategic Dialogue on Biological Security. 🤝 It reflects our shared ambition to bolster future health and economic resilience against a growing and diverse spectrum of biological threats. 🦠 📰 Read more: gov.uk/government/new…

Excellent summary published by Christopher East and Dan Regan Council on Strategic Risks on the recent US-UK Strategic Dialogue they hosted - successful event and great advancement of key biosecurity priorities between our two countries! councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/01/22/eve…

We're hiring for a Biosecurity Policy Adviser! You’d work closely with our Biosecurity Policy Unit, Cassidy Nelson Sophie Rose , to develop and advocate for our biosecurity policy recommendations. Please share widely with your network! Deadline: 8 March buff.ly/48EETdL

*New CLTR and RAND Europe Collaboration* We are excited to announce that we are working with RAND Europe on developing a comprehensive risk index for AI-enabled biological tools to assist policymakers in assessing evolving biosecurity threats. rand.org/randeurope/res…

Foundations: Why Britain Has Stagnated. A new essay by Ben Southwood, Samuel Hughes & me. Why the UK's ban on investment in housing, infrastructure and energy is not just a problem. It is *the* problem. And how fixing it is the defining task of our generation. ukfoundations.co

A new Science Magazine article from 30+ leading international scientists including several J. Craig Venter Institute researchers, examines the potential dangers of building ‘mirror life’ — organisms composed entirely of mirror-image biological molecules.