We identify 22 researchers who took public roles and 21 who held advisory or committee seats

How often do AI researchers enter public life? We identify 22 who took public roles and 21 who held advisory or committee seats. We count each path separately.

Key findings

• We identify 22 researchers who took public roles or policy jobs.
• 21 researchers held an advisory or committee seat.
• 22 researchers have other public activity without a confirmed public-job move.
• 24 people moved from a public career into AI organizations or research.

When did these roles begin?

Stacked columns separate public-role appointments, advisory or committee seats, other public activity and moves from public careers into AI organizations or research.

Source: People of Superintelligence biography quotes in data/posts/voices.json; policy-role review in data/posts/voices-roles.json, as of 15 October 2026.

Data table

Period	Research to public role	Advisory or committee seat	Other public activity	Public career to AI organizations or research
Before 2000	4	0	1	0
2000–04	0	0	0	0
2005–09	1	1	0	0
2010–14	1	0	1	0
2015–19	3	2	5	2
2020–24	8	11	8	10
2025–26	3	3	3	4

From 2020 through 2026, we record 11 of 20 dated public-role appointments (55%) and 14 of 17 dated advisory appointments (82%). Recent policy work may have fuller biography coverage, which can raise its share.

The middle dates for public-role appointments are 2020 and 2021. The middle dates for moves into AI organizations or research are 2022 and 2023.

Which activities account for the records?

We count a public role when the biography describes a job, policy position or public writing as main work. We separate advisory and committee seats from those roles. The headlines count each person once within each group; charts count records, and a person can appear in more than one group.

Bars show label kinds within each of the four counting groups. Advisory seats and other public activity have their own groups.

Source: People of Superintelligence biography quotes and the policy-role review in data/posts/voices-roles.json.

Data table

Counting group	Original label kind	Records
Research to public role	Policy or government	22
Advisory or committee seat	Policy or government	21
Other public activity	Books, media or speaking	7
Other public activity	Policy or government	9
Other public activity	Public warnings or advocacy	6
Public career to AI organizations or research	Policy or government	12
Public career to AI organizations or research	Journalism	3
Public career to AI organizations or research	Other public careers	3
Public career to AI organizations or research	Writing for the public	2
Public career to AI organizations or research	Law	3
Public career to AI organizations or research	Forecasting	1

Who took a public role?

All 22 records, with supporting text

Person	Year	Original kind	From	To	Biography text
Robert E. Kahn	1983	Policy or government	computing researcher	DARPA office director	“Kahn initiated Strategic Computing while directing DARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office.”
Saul Amarel	1985	Policy or government	AI researcher	DARPA office director	“Amarel directed DARPA’s Information Sciences and Technology Office from 1985 to 1988.”
Arati Prabhakar	1993	Policy or government	engineering researcher and official	NIST director	“She became NIST director in 1993 and was the first woman to lead the agency, serving through 1997.”
Ruzena Bajcsy	1999	Policy or government	robotics researcher	NSF directorate leader	“Bajcsy led the NSF computer and information science directorate from 1999 to 2001.”
Jeannette Wing	2007	Policy or government	computer science researcher	NSF assistant director	“She serves as assistant director of the National Science Foundation's Computer and Information Science and Engineering directorate from 2007 to 2010.”
Vijay Kumar	2012	Policy or government	robotics researcher	assistant director for robotics and cyber-physical systems	“During a scholarly leave from 2012 to 2014, he serves as assistant director for robotics and cyber-physical systems at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.”
Tieniu Tan	2016	Policy or government	pattern-recognition researcher	Deputy Director of Central Government's Liaison Office	“In December 2016, he became Deputy Director of the Central Government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, a role he held before taking the Nanjing University Party Secretary post in September 2022.”
Hugh Durrant-Whyte	2017	Policy or government	robotics researcher	Chief Scientific Adviser	“He becomes the UK Ministry of Defence's Chief Scientific Adviser in April 2017 and serves through 2018.”
Latifa Al-Abdulkarim	2018	Policy or government	AI law researcher	AI consultant	“From 2018 to 2019 she works as an AI consultant at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.”
Nuria Oliver	2020	Policy or government	AI researcher	commissioner on AI and data science	“During COVID-19, she served as the Valencian government’s commissioner on AI and data science.”
Alondra Nelson	2021	Policy or government	sociology researcher	White House deputy assistant	“From 2021 to 2023, she served as deputy assistant to President Biden and principal deputy director for science and society at OSTP, including a period as acting director. She spearheaded the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which set principles for the design and use of automated systems.”
Suresh Venkatasubramanian	2021	Policy or government	algorithmic fairness researcher	Assistant Director for Science and Justice	“He joins the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2021 as Assistant Director for Science and Justice, where he helps co-author the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.”
Laurie E. Locascio	2022	Policy or government	research biomedical engineer	NIST director	“In April 2022 she is sworn in as NIST director. During her tenure she oversees key efforts to set up the U.S. AI Safety Institute.”
Kiri Wagstaff	2023	Policy or government	machine-learning research	AI subject matter expert	“Wagstaff served as an AI subject matter expert in the United States Senate through an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship from 2023 to 2024.”
Ana Paiva	2024	Policy or government	AI research	Secretary of State for Science	“She also served as Portugal’s Secretary of State for Science in 2024.”
Gregory Hager	2024	Policy or government	AI and robotics professor	NSF CISE assistant director	“In June 2024, he became assistant director of NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering and oversaw its activities across those fields.”
Paul Christiano	2024	Policy or government	AI alignment researcher	head of AI safety	“He became head of AI safety at the United States AI Safety Institute at NIST in April 2024.”
Douglas Matty	2025	Policy or government	AI and autonomy research director	Pentagon chief digital and AI officer	“In April 2025 he takes the post of chief digital and AI officer at the Pentagon.”
Jade Leung	2025	Policy or government	AI governance researcher	Prime Minister's AI adviser	“In August 2025, she becomes the Prime Minister’s AI adviser and splits her time between Number 10 and the AI Security Institute.”
Arvind Raman	2026	Policy or government	engineering professor and researcher	NIST director	“The Senate confirms him in May 2026, and he is sworn in as the 18th director of NIST in June 2026.”
Lynne E. Parker	Unknown	Policy or government	robotics research	deputy US chief technology officer	“Parker returned after White House work as deputy US chief technology officer and founding director of the National AI Initiative Office in November 2022.”
Peter Lee	Unknown	Policy or government	computer science professor	head of Transformational Convergence Technology Office	“where he heads the Transformational Convergence Technology Office”

Who held an advisory or committee seat?

We checked broad policy labels against their supporting quotes to separate jobs, advisory seats and other public activity. A seat alone leaves a change in main work unconfirmed.

All 21 records, with supporting text

Person	Year	Original kind	From	To	Biography text
Nigel Shadbolt	2009	Policy or government	AI researcher	Information Advisors	“In 2009, the Prime Minister appointed him and Tim Berners-Lee as Information Advisors to transform access to public-sector information.”
Barry O’Sullivan	2018	Policy or government	AI research	EU AI expert group vice chair	“O’Sullivan became vice chair of the European Commission’s high-level AI expert group in 2018.”
Virginia Dignum	2018	Policy or government	responsible AI researcher	High-Level Expert Group on AI member	“The European Commission appointed her to its High-Level Expert Group on AI”
Arlindo Oliveira	2020	Policy or government	AI researcher and professor	STOA advisory board member	“He joins the STOA International Advisory Board of the European Parliament for the 2020–2024 mandate, which focuses on artificial intelligence.”
Darío Gil	2020	Policy or government	IBM Research director	National Science Board member	“He joins the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation, in 2020.”
Matthias Grossglauser	2020	Policy or government	network researcher	ComCom member	“He joins the Swiss Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) in January 2020. He is named full professor at EPFL in December 2020, and the commission lists him among its seven members in 2025.”
Elham Tabassi	2021	Policy or government	NIST AI researcher	National AI Research Resource Task Force member	“She joined the National AI Research Resource Task Force and represented the U.S. government in work to establish and sustain the resource.”
Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem	2021	Policy or government	AI ethics philosopher	UNESCO AI ethics group lead	“She leads the UNESCO ad hoc expert group that drafts the 2021 UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI.”
Sabine Süsstrunk	2021	Policy or government	imaging researcher	president of the Swiss Science Council	“In 2020 the Federal Council appoints her president of the Swiss Science Council, and she takes office in 2021.”
Daniel E. Ho	2022	Policy or government	AI and law researcher	member of National AI Advisory Committee	“In April 2022, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo appoints him to the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, which advises the President.”
Jon Kleinberg	2022	Policy or government	computer science researcher	AI policy committee member	“The U.S. Department of Commerce appoints him to a newly established committee that will advise the U.S. president on issues related to artificial intelligence.”
Abeba Birhane	2023	Policy or government	AI accountability researcher	UN AI Advisory Body member	“She joins the UN Secretary-General’s AI Advisory Body as a member. The body is created to assess risks and opportunities and support international AI governance.”
Andreas Krause	2023	Policy or government	AI researcher at ETH Zurich	member of UN AI advisory body	“He is named to the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI in October 2023. The body supports international efforts to govern artificial intelligence.”
Chinasa T. Okolo	2024	Policy or government	AI governance researcher	AI policy adviser	“She served on the ethics and social impact committee that helped develop Nigeria’s National AI Strategy and advised the African Union Development Agency.”
David Duvenaud	2025	Policy or government	AI researcher	member of federal AI safety advisory group	“In 2025 he is appointed to the federal Safe and Secure Advisory Group, which provides guidance to the Government of Canada on AI safety.”
Carlos A. Coello Coello	2026	Policy or government	optimization researcher	UN AI panel member	“In 2026 he joins the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, a body of 40 members.”
John M. Martinis	2026	Policy or government	quantum physics researcher	PCAST appointee	“In March 2026 he is appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.”
Asunción Gómez Pérez	Unknown	Policy or government	AI and computer science researcher	Scientific Panel member	“She also sits on the European Commission's Scientific Panel for the AI Act.”
Fred Oswald	Unknown	Policy or government	AI hiring researcher	member of national AI advisory committee	“In March 2024 he is a psychology professor at Rice and a member of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee.”
James Manyika	Unknown	Policy or government	engineering research fellow	development policy adviser	“As vice-chair of the President’s Global Development Council, he helped advise the president and other senior United States officials on global development.”
Nozha Boujemaa	Unknown	Policy or government	visual content research	European Commission AI expert group vice-chair	“Boujemaa was a vice-chair of the European Commission’s AI expert group and contributed to trustworthy AI guidelines.”

Which public activities leave a career move unconfirmed?

These quotes leave a change in main work unconfirmed.

All 22 records, with supporting text

Person	Year	Original kind	From	To	Biography text
Jean-Claude Simon	1980	Policy or government	AI and pattern-recognition professor	computing education study lead	“In 1980, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing asked him to lead a study on computing in education.”
James A. Hendler	2012	Policy or government	AI research	legislative testimony	“On May 22, 2012, Hendler testified to the New York State Assembly about the need for an open data website.”
Károly Zsolnai-Fehér	2015	Books, media or speaking	computer-graphics research	Two Minute Papers creator	“Two Minute Papers began in 2015 as a way to share research with a wider audience.”
Joy Buolamwini	2016	Public warnings or advocacy	facial-analysis research	AI justice advocacy	“Founded the Algorithmic Justice League in 2016.”
Janelle Shane	2016	Books, media or speaking	nanoscale optics researcher	AI Weirdness blogger	“She starts the AI Weirdness blog in 2016 and trains neural networks on quirky data sets.”
Hannah Fry	2019	Books, media or speaking	mathematical modeling researcher	Christmas Lectures presenter	“In 2019, she presents the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, showing how probability and algorithms shape everyday choices and where trust in numbers can fail.”
Yi Zeng	2019	Public warnings or advocacy	AI researcher	led Beijing AI Principles	“As lead drafter, he led development of the Beijing AI Principles, which BAAI released in May 2019.”
Toby Ord	2020	Books, media or speaking	FHI research fellow	author of The Precipice	“His book The Precipice is published in March 2020, concluding that safeguarding our future is among the most pressing and neglected issues we face.”
Geoffrey Hinton	2023	Public warnings or advocacy	AI research at Google	public AI risk warnings	“After leaving Google, he explains his decision to speak publicly about AI risks.”
Max Tegmark	2023	Public warnings or advocacy	AI and physics researcher	AI pause campaign lead	“He leads FLI's open letter calling for a six-month pause on training advanced AI systems.”
Carroll L. Wainwright	2024	Public warnings or advocacy	AI safety researcher at OpenAI	Right to Warn letter organizer	“In early June 2024 he leaves OpenAI, the same week he helps organize the public Right to Warn letter. The letter's signatory list names him as formerly of OpenAI.”
Rumman Chowdhury	2024	Policy or government	responsible AI researcher	science envoy	“Her work has also included public red teaming and a 2024 United States science envoy appointment.”
Jordan Harrod	2024	Books, media or speaking	pain and consciousness researcher	AI education webinar host	“Her 'Should You Use AI?' webinar series broke down ChatGPT's components and explored questions about privacy, environmental impact, and the ethics of using AI tools.”
Wiro Niessen	2024	Policy or government	biomedical imaging researcher	Captain of Science	“In 2024, the Dutch government appointed him Captain of Science of the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health.”
Ziad Obermeyer	2024	Policy or government	healthcare machine-learning researcher	testified before Senate Finance Committee	“In February 2024 he testifies before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, warning about AI hazards in health care and offering ways to make AI systems safe, unbiased and useful.”
Emily M. Bender	2025	Books, media or speaking	language research	author of The AI Con	“Published The AI Con with Alex Hanna in 2025.”
Daniel Kokotajlo	2026	Policy or government	OpenAI forecasting and evaluations	Senate AI testimony	“He coauthors a policy scenario and calls for transparency in Senate testimony.”
Marius Hobbhahn	2026	Policy or government	AI safety researcher	Senate witness on AI scheming	“In October 2026, he testifies before the U.S. Senate on AI scheming while Apollo builds a science of scheming and a security tool to monitor frontier AI agents.”
Yoshua Bengio	Unknown	Policy or government	deep-learning researcher	international report chair	“He chairs the International AI Safety Report.”
Heidy Khlaaf	Unknown	Public warnings or advocacy	formal verification researcher	AI risk policy advocate	“At AI Now, she coauthored reports on foundation models in military intelligence and safety standards for military AI.”
Lex Fridman	Unknown	Books, media or speaking	human-automation research	interview podcast host	“The podcast grew into a continuing interview series.”
Gary Marcus	Unknown	Policy or government	cognitive science research	Senate testimony	“His public work includes a 2018 critique of deep learning and Senate testimony calling for independent checks of AI systems.”

Who moved from a public career into AI organizations or research?

We have current affiliations for 24 of the 24 people who moved from a public career into AI organizations or research. Anthropic has the largest current group, with 5 people: Elizabeth Kelly, Holden Karnofsky, Jack Clark, Matt Clifford and Tino Cuéllar. These affiliations can follow later job changes.

1. Anthropic5Elizabeth Kelly, Holden Karnofsky, Jack Clark, Matt Clifford and Tino Cuéllar
2. AI Now Institute2Amba Kak and Brian Merchant
3. Stanford University2Marietje Schaake and Tino Cuéllar
4. Adalat AI1Utkarsh Saxena
5. AI Futures Project1Daniel Kokotajlo
6. Asteria1Natasha Lyonne
7. Fairly Trained1Ed Newton-Rex
8. Formation Advisory1Verity Harding
9. Georgetown University1Helen Toner
10. Harvey1Winston Weinberg
11. IIT Madras1Anil Ananthaswamy
12. Netflix1Ben Affleck
13. NVIDIA1Josh Parker
14. OpenAI1Chris Lehane
15. OpenAI Foundation1Anna Makanju
16. RAND Corporation1Jason Matheny
17. University of California, Berkeley1Brian Christian
18. United Nations1Amandeep Singh Gill
19. White House1Michael Kratsios
20. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy1Michael Kratsios

All 24 records, with supporting text

Person	Year	Original kind	From	To	Biography text
Verity Harding	2016	Policy or government	policy adviser	Global Head of Policy	“She becomes DeepMind's first Global Head of Policy in 2016.”
Helen Toner	2019	Policy or government	AI policy work	CSET research staff	“She helped build CSET from its founding in 2019 and later led strategy and foundational research grants.”
Anna Makanju	2021	Policy or government	government and technology policy	OpenAI vice president of global affairs	“As OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, she says advanced AI needs oversight and governance.”
Michael Kratsios	2021	Policy or government	government technology policy official	Scale AI strategy director	“In 2021 he joins Scale AI as managing director and head of strategy.”
Ben Affleck	2022	Other public careers	actor, director, screenwriter	co-founder of InterPositive	“He founds InterPositive in 2022 to help filmmakers ease postproduction work with AI-powered tools.”
Jason Matheny	2022	Policy or government	national security policy official	RAND president and CEO	“He is president and CEO of the RAND Corporation, a post that began in July 2022.”
Natasha Lyonne	2022	Other public careers	actor, director and writer	Asteria co-founder	“In 2022 she co-founds Asteria with Bryn Mooser, an AI film studio that aims to create animated feature films using AI tools.”
Winston Weinberg	2022	Law	lawyer	co-founded Harvey	“In 2022, he and Gabe Pereyra test GPT-3 on legal questions and co-found Harvey.”
Amba Kak	2023	Policy or government	senior AI policy adviser	co-leader of AI Now	“She and Sarah Myers West left the FTC and took the reins of AI Now in January 2023.”
Josh Parker	2023	Law	patent lawyer	corporate sustainability lead	“He joins NVIDIA in 2023 to lead its corporate sustainability program.”
Brian Merchant	2024	Journalism	technology journalist and author	Journalist In Residence	“In March 2024 AI Now announces that he will join as Journalist In Residence, interrogating the business model underpinning the AI boom.”
Utkarsh Saxena	2024	Law	Supreme Court law clerk	Adalat AI co-founder	“He co-founds Adalat AI with Arghya Bhattacharya in early 2024.”
Chris Lehane	2025	Policy or government	public policy adviser	OpenAI vice president of global policy	“By October 2025, he is OpenAI’s vice president of global policy.”
Holden Karnofsky	2025	Writing for the public	AI risk writer	member of Anthropic technical staff	“He joins Anthropic in January 2025 as a member of the technical staff. He focuses on the design of the company's Responsible Scaling Policy.”
Anil Ananthaswamy	2026	Journalism	science writer and journalist	Professor of Practice at IIT Madras	“In 2026 he joins IIT Madras as Professor of Practice in the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.”
Tino Cuéllar	2026	Policy or government	policy leader	Chief Global Affairs Officer	“In August 2026 he steps down from the Long-Term Benefit Trust to become Anthropic's first Chief Global Affairs Officer, overseeing its policy and government relations worldwide.”
Amandeep Singh Gill	Unknown	Policy or government	UN diplomat and technology envoy	CEO of I-DAIR	“By June 2022, he was CEO of the International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR), based at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.”
Brian Christian	Unknown	Writing for the public	general-audience AI author	Research Fellow at CHAI	“He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Human-Compatible AI at UC Berkeley, and his research spans AI alignment and computational cognitive science.”
Ed Newton-Rex	Unknown	Other public careers	composer	Stability AI audio team lead	“He led Stability AI's audio team until he resigned in November 2023 over the company's position that training generative AI on copyrighted works is fair use.”
Elizabeth Kelly	Unknown	Policy or government	U.S. AI policy official	led Anthropic Beneficial Deployments team	“In February 2026, Kelly led Anthropic’s Beneficial Deployments team as it worked with Rwanda on AI in health, education and public services.”
Jack Clark	Unknown	Journalism	technology journalism	policy director	“Clark became policy director at OpenAI.”
Daniel Kokotajlo	Unknown	Forecasting	AI forecaster	OpenAI forecasts and evaluations	“He wrote What 2026 Looks Like in 2021 and later worked at OpenAI on forecasts and evaluations, according to his testimony.”
Marietje Schaake	Unknown	Policy or government	European policy leader	HAI policy fellow	“A group of Stanford students and contributors, led by HAI policy fellow Marietje Schaake, shares policy recommendations with the EU Commission on regulating AI in June 2020.”
Matt Clifford	Unknown	Policy or government	AI policy adviser	Anthropic international affairs lead	“He is Anthropic’s managing director for international affairs and leads its engagement with governments outside the United States.”