History
Overview
Section titled “Overview”This section traces the development of AI safety as a field, from early theoretical concerns to the current mainstream recognition of AI risks. Understanding this history helps contextualize current debates and institutional structures.
Historical Eras
Section titled “Historical Eras”The field’s founding period, dominated by the Machine Intelligence Research InstituteOrganizationMIRIComprehensive organizational history documenting MIRI's trajectory from pioneering AI safety research (2000-2020) to policy advocacy after acknowledging research failure, with detailed financial da...Quality: 50/100:
- Eliezer YudkowskyResearcherEliezer YudkowskyComprehensive biographical profile of Eliezer Yudkowsky covering his foundational contributions to AI safety (CEV, early problem formulation, agent foundations) and notably pessimistic views (>90% ...Quality: 35/100’s early writings on AI risk
- Founding of SIAI (later MIRI) in 2000
- Development of foundational concepts (orthogonality thesis, instrumental convergenceRiskInstrumental ConvergenceComprehensive review of instrumental convergence theory with extensive empirical evidence from 2024-2025 showing 78% alignment faking rates, 79-97% shutdown resistance in frontier models, and exper...Quality: 64/100)
- Superintelligence (2014) brings ideas to academic attention
Deep learning breakthroughs reshape the landscape:
- AlphaGo (2016) demonstrates superhuman capability
- GPT-2 (2019) shows language model potential
- AnthropicLabAnthropicComprehensive profile of Anthropic, founded in 2021 by seven former OpenAI researchers (Dario and Daniela Amodei, Chris Olah, Tom Brown, Jack Clark, Jared Kaplan, Sam McCandlish) with early funding...Quality: 51/100 founded (2021) by former OpenAILabOpenAIComprehensive organizational profile of OpenAI documenting evolution from 2015 non-profit to commercial AGI developer, with detailed analysis of governance crisis, safety researcher exodus (75% of ...Quality: 46/100 safety team
- Growing recognition in ML community
AI safety enters public consciousness:
- ChatGPT (Nov 2022) captures public attention
- Pause letter (March 2023) signed by prominent researchers
- Geoffrey HintonResearcherGeoffrey HintonComprehensive biographical profile of Geoffrey Hinton documenting his 2023 shift from AI pioneer to safety advocate, estimating 10% extinction risk in 5-20 years. Covers his media strategy, policy ...Quality: 42/100 leaves Google to speak freely about risks
- Congressional hearings on AI safety
AI safety becomes a policy priority:
- Biden Executive Order on AI (Oct 2023)
- Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit (Nov 2023)
- AI Safety InstitutesPolicyAI Safety Institutes (AISIs)Analysis of government AI Safety Institutes finding they've achieved rapid institutional growth (UK: 0→100+ staff in 18 months) and secured pre-deployment access to frontier models, but face critic...Quality: 69/100 established globally
- Major labs adopt responsible scaling policiesPolicyResponsible Scaling PoliciesComprehensive analysis of Responsible Scaling Policies showing 20 companies with published frameworks as of Dec 2025, with SaferAI grading major policies 1.9-2.2/5 for specificity. Evidence suggest...Quality: 62/100
Key Milestones
Section titled “Key Milestones”| Year | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | SIAI founded | First AI safety organization |
| 2014 | Superintelligence published | Brought ideas to academia |
| 2017 | Asilomar Principles | Early multi-stakeholder agreement |
| 2022 | ChatGPT released | Public awareness breakthrough |
| 2023 | UK AI Safety Summit | First major government summit |
| 2024 | EU AI ActPolicyEU AI ActComprehensive overview of the EU AI Act's risk-based regulatory framework, particularly its two-tier approach to foundation models that distinguishes between standard and systemic risk AI systems. ...Quality: 55/100 enacted | First comprehensive AI regulation |