Machine Intelligence Research Institute

The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), formerly the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI), is an American non-profit organization based in Berkeley, California.

MIRI aligns itself with the principles and objectives of the effective altruism movement, having been influenced and advised by Open Philanthropy and GiveWell.1)

History

The organization was founded as the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) in 2000 by Eliezer Yudkowsky.2) It was primarily funded by Peter Thiel.

In 2019, Open Philanthropy recommended a general-support grant of approximately $2.1 million over two years to MIRI.3) In April 2020, Open Philanthropy supplemented this with a $7.7M grant over two years.4) 5)

In 2021, Vitalik Buterin donated several million dollars worth of Ethereum to MIRI.6)

Organization

Funding

Personnel

Name Position Notes
Nick Bostrom Advisor8) Future of Humanity Institute, Yale University, European Commission, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Peter Cheeseman Advisor University of Technology Sydney, SRI International, NASA Ames Research Center
Aubrey de Grey Advisor Methuselah Foundation
Neil Jacobstein Advisor Teknowledge Corporation, National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States Army, United States Air Force, General Motors, Ford, Boeing, Applied Materials, American Association for Artificial Intelligence, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing
Luke Muehlhauser Executive Director (former) Left to join Open Philanthropy9)
Stephen Omohundro Advisor Phi Beta Kappa, Thinking Machines Corporation, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Center for Complex Systems Research, Wolfram Research, International Computer Science Institute, NEC Research Institute, Olo Software, InterTrust Technologies, Xerox PARC, Fuji Xerox, Ask Jeeves, VideoScribe, LinuxMatrix, Video Memoirs, Molecular Objects, Self-Aware Systems
Barney Pell Advisor Powerset, Decision Theory, Mayfield, NASA Ames Research Center
Christine Peterson Advisor Foresight Nanotech Institute, Freedom Technology Ventures, Alameda Capital, International Council on Nanotechnology, Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, Nanotech Briefs
Max Tegmark Advisor Max Planck Institute for Physics, Institute for Advanced Study, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), National Science Foundation
Peter Thiel Advisor Clarium Capital, Founders Fund, Facebook, PayPal, Thiel Capital Management, Credit Suisse, Sullivan & Cromwell, Pacific Research Institute, Stanford Law School
1) , 9)
Bensinger, R. (2015, August 28). AI and Effective Altruism. Machine Intelligence Research Institute. https://web.archive.org/web/20230121192312/https://intelligence.org/2015/08/28/ai-and-effective-altruism/
2)
What is The Singularity? Version SIAI. (2011, May 17). A c c E L E R a T I O N. https://web.archive.org/web/20211205113321/http://accelerationthemovie.com/?p=125
3)
Machine Intelligence Research Institute — General Support (2019). (2019, April 1). Open Philanthropy. https://web.archive.org/web/20230123081923/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2019/
4)
Machine Intelligence Research Institute — General Support (2020). (2020, April 10). Open Philanthropy. https://web.archive.org/web/20220925021245/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/machine-intelligence-research-institute-general-support-2020/
5) , 7)
Bensinger, R. (2020, April 27). MIRI’s largest grant to date! Machine Intelligence Research Institute. https://archive.ph/8Cdqx
6)
Maheshwari, S. (2021, May 13). Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin donates $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency to India COVID Relief Fund & other charities. MSN. https://web.archive.org/web/20210824123721/https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/ethereum-creator-vitalik-buterin-donates-15-billion-in-cryptocurrency-to-india-covid-relief-fund-other-charities/ar-BB1gG1nr
8)
Advisors. Singularity Institute. Retrieved February 11, 2010, from https://web.archive.org/web/20100211210711/http://singinst.org/aboutus/advisors
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