Frontier AI Research Lead

Description

CSET Frontier AI Research Lead

The Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) is currently seeking candidates to lead our Frontier AI research efforts, either as a Research Fellow or Senior Fellow (depending on experience). 

About the Research: 

CSET is expanding our work on issues related to the cutting-edge, general-purpose AI systems known as ‘frontier AI.’ Building on work by CSET’s CyberAI Project, Foundational Research Grants program, and other teams, this research aims to give policymakers and other stakeholders greater clarity about the general-purpose AI frontier, including current capabilities, use cases, and risks; where the frontier might move next, including the prospects of developing artificial general intelligence or ‘superintelligence’ and the factors that likely to alter those prospects; and how new evidence should affect our picture of what to expect. Key areas for examination include investigating Chinese frontier AI efforts, monitoring the development and deployment of increasingly capable AI agents, making sense of conflicting evidence around capabilities and risks, and assessing compute demands of frontier systems. Understanding why experts disagree about key frontier AI issues and exploring what those issues mean for policy will be recurring themes across projects.

About the Role:
You will lead a new team at CSET that focuses on Frontier AI issues, including shaping priorities, laying out an overall research strategy, overseeing the execution of the research and production of reports, and helping to hire and manage supporting researchers, including (Sr.) Research Analysts and Student Research Assistants. Additionally, CSET Fellows frequently interact with government, industry, and international organizations and serve as subject matter experts for the media.

Responsibilities:

The incumbent must be comfortable interpreting and analyzing technical AI/ML research (e.g., large language models, multimodal systems, reinforcement learning) and distilling complex findings into clear, policy-relevant insights. They should be comfortable working with empirical data and using qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews, and other research approaches to support policy recommendations. CSET Fellows are expected to lead research projects, communicate their findings in clear writing and presentations understandable to non-experts, brief policymakers, participate in public events, and manage and mentor CSET’s Research Analysts, Research Assistants, and student affiliates. They must work collaboratively with other CSET research teams with common interests and relevant expertise. They are also expected to work closely with CSET’s data team to conduct empirical analyses. 

In addition, the Frontier AI Fellow will report to CSET’s Director of Analysis and be responsible for the following: 

• Developing, proposing, and leading research projects related to the Center’s mission and Frontier AI, both individually and in collaboration with other Research/Senior Fellows, (Senior) Research Analysts, Data Scientists, and Center leadership

• Designing research plans for data-focused analytic projects in coordination with members of CSET’s Data Science Team by identifying data needs, data team resourcing, and risk management approaches.  

• Producing written publications, both individually and as a co-author

• Supervising, mentoring, and coaching other researchers, including (Senior) Research Analysts, Data Research Analysts, and Student Research Assistants.

• Editing related products by other researchers to ensure methodological rigor, tone, and consistency with other existing products.

• Collaborating with CSET data scientists in building out CSET’s data and documentation libraries.

• Developing and delivering presentations and briefs for policy-making audiences on topics related to Frontier AI issues and policy options

• Motivating, coaching, and challenging team members to provide quality projects and advance their professional development.

• Preparing and presenting performance (project and/or people) updates to leaders