SUMMER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP 2023

The XLab 2023 Summer Research Fellowship (SRF) ran from June 12 to August 18. We had a cohort of 16 fellows undertaking independent research projects spanning a range of risk areas, each with mentorship from a domain expert. Four fellows worked on technical AI safety projects, five worked on AI governance, one on climate change, and two each on nuclear security, biosecurity, and x-risk communications. The experience levels of the cohort ranged from first-year undergraduates to an admitted lawyer. The final cohort, selected from more than 150 applicants, had 6 UChicago students and 10 from other U.S. institutions including Columbia, Yale, and Harvard.

A generic week’s programming consisted of a workshop and Q&A session, a peer review session, a cohort social event, and 1-1 meetings with the program manager and their mentor.

Guest speakers included:

Herb Lin, Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security, Hoover Institution
Jeff Alstott, Senior Information Scientist, RAND
James Acton, Co-Director of Nuclear Policy Programme, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Markus Andlerjung, Head of Policy, GovAI
Tessa Alexanian, Ending Bioweapons Fellow, Council on Strategic Risks
Jared Leibowich, Superforecaster, Metaculus and Good Judgement Inc.

Social events included opening and closing receptions and dinners, Barbie-Oppenheimer double feature, Chicago Architecture Tour, and activities such as a mini-golf, pickleball, and visits to a climbing gym.

2023 FELLOWS AND THEIR PROJECTS

ALLISON HUANG

Art, Technology, and Business of Innovation, University of Southern California ‘26
Mentor: Hadrien Pouget, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Open-source Language Models: Identifying Contributing Factors and Future Trends

ANISHA HISHAM

Master of Public Policy, University of Chicago ‘24
Mentor: Alexander Arroyo, University of Chicago

Status of Adaptation to Climate Risk in Pakistan

CARTER TEPLICA

Mathematics, Columbia University ‘23
Mentor: Yibo Jiang, Computer Science PhD Candidate, University of Chicago

A Mechanistic Analysis of Counting in Distil-GPT2

COLEMAN SNELL

Moral Psychology & Philosophy, Cornell University ‘24
Mentor: Lara Mani, Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University

Team Project: Investigating x-risk communications strategy and producing introductory material for XLab, including risk primers and branding material.

DUC NGUYEN

Physics, University of Chicago ‘26
Mentor: Tiffany Shaw, University of Chicago

Examining Temperature Fluctuations and Soot Deposition in Nuclear Winter

JOSEPHINE DODGE

Mathematics & Economics, University of Chicago ‘25

Investigating the effectiveness of advance market commitments for vaccines in the context of future pandemic preparedness.

JOSHUA PAYNE

Molecular Engineering & Biochemistry, University of Chicago ‘26
Mentor: Alex Kleinman, PanLabs, formerly Alvea

Optimizing 3’ UTR Sequences and Secondary Structures To Improve mRNA Vaccine Thermostability

JULIAN BALDWIN

BS/MS Computer Science, Northwestern University ‘24
Mentor: David Reber, Computer Science PhD Candidate, University of Chicago

Exploring the Limits of OthelloGPT’s Emergent Representations

LAURA MESSNER

Economics & Mathematics, Columbia University ‘25
Mentor: Anton Korinek, University of Virginia

AI, Automation, and Systemic Risks

MILES WANG

Computer Science and Government, Harvard College ‘26

Mentor: Tony Wang, Computer Science PhD Candidate, MIT
Forbidden Facts: An Investigation of Competing Objectives in Llama-2

Mentor: Chenhao Tan, University of Chicago
Team Project: Building an AI Reflection Agent for Policy Deliberation

MISHAAL LAKHANI

Social Sciences & Business, Minerva University ‘24
Mentor: Lara Mani, Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University

Team Project: Investigating x-risk communications strategy and producing introductory material for XLab, including risk primers and branding material.