Incredibly surreal and grateful to be named to the TIME100 AI for my work at Encode. I first got involved at Encode after meeting its founder, @SnehaRevanur, at a summer internship when we were both in college and naively pitched the idea of creating an advocacy arm that would pursue legislative wins. Building Encode over the three years since—alongside @AdamBillen, @_NathanCalvin, and the rest of our incredible team—from an organization without a single full time staffer to what it is now has been the privilege of a lifetime. Encode is now at the center of some of the most contentious AI safety debates of our time. I’m proud to say we have helped pass multiple state and federal laws, blocked ones that we thought would have harmed the public interest, and materially changed the actions of some of the most powerful companies on the planet. Excited for the fights ahead and very grateful for all those that believed in and supported us back when we were just a few kids in a trench coat. time.com/collection/time100-…

We’re hiring in SF! Encode cut its teeth in DC. People said AI politics was a bad bet; we made unlikely friends, won the fight to keep states in play, and helped pass the Big 3 of AI laws (CA SB 53, NY RAISE, IL SB 315). It’s time to double up in SF. Pacing the Frontier (pacingthefrontier.com), which we helped organize, was recently signed by 1,378 frontier lab employees and endorsed by both OpenAI and Anthropic. The last time we felt this rush of opportunity was Sacramento in 2024. AI risk has gone from an online culture war to a fact of life. SF is full of people who want to act, lab employees especially, but don’t see a place to plug in. We need someone to help us build the grid. Encode’s lab engagement has been running on adrenaline and personal relationships. That got @_NathanCalvin and me here, but it’s time to level up. Misalignment is getting scary. “Pacing” has real legs now. Researchers are using their voices to influence lab leaders and alert the world. Many of those researchers say that soon, their jobs - and the voice their jobs give them - will be unrecognizable or won’t exist. We want to hire someone who is: (1) Mission-aligned. You want to ensure AI doesn’t cause catastrophe (or kill everyone) and the future is the best it can be (2) Extremely organized, high-functioning, excited to add structure so ad hoc actions compound (3) Pragmatic, able to pivot when crazy things happen (if the last few months are any indication...) (4) Hard to typecast - not because you lack beliefs, but because you see the best in many kinds of people. The role will start with supporting lab engagement and expand. It’ll be insanely fun (we take the work seriously, not ourselves). You’ll visit DC regularly as AI’s political salience takes off and get to know a team that feels like family. If you’re interested, email me by September 4 at [email protected] with the subject line “SF Special Projects” and a few sentences each on (1) a relevant project you’ve owned and (2) what you think Encode SF should do next. If someone you know could be a good fit... I want to meet them!

Prominent youth online safety advocacy organizations are urging Congress to reject an attempt to block state laws on artificial intelligence, warning such a move would undo new protections for children and teenagers. news.bgov.com/bloomberg-gove…