PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ajeya Cotra

Ajeya Cotra is an AI risk researcher whose work spans AI forecasting, technical safety grantmaking, and loss-of-control assessment. Before joining Open Philanthropy in July 2016, she studied electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley, founded the Effective Altruists of Berkeley student group, and taught a course on effective altruism. She joined Open Phil in 2016, published a biological-anchors report on transformative AI timelines in 2020, and argued about AI takeover risk in 2022. Vox named her to its 2022 Future Perfect 50, and she led Coefficient Giving's technical AI safety program in 2024 before contributing to AI giving strategy in 2025. As of October 2026, she is Technical Staff at METR, where she assesses loss-of-control risks from advanced AI.

Now at
METR
Badges

Timeline

  1. Before July 2016

    Studying at Berkeley

    Before joining Open Philanthropy in July 2016, she studies electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley, founds the Effective Altruists of Berkeley student group, and teaches a course on effective altruism.

  2. July 2016

    Joining Open Philanthropy

    After a GiveWell internship and a return offer, she joins Open Philanthropy in July 2016 as its first research employee hired specifically for the organization. At Open Phil, she works on AI timelines and worldview diversification.

  3. 2020

    Forecasting with biological anchors

    In 2020, she posts a draft report that uses biological anchors to forecast transformative AI timelines.

  4. July 2022

    Analyzing AI takeover risk

    In July 2022, she argues that racing ahead with increasingly powerful AI models could lead to takeover by misaligned systems in the absence of specific countermeasures.

  5. October 2022

    A Future Perfect 50 selection

    She is named to the 2022 Future Perfect 50 in October 2022.

  6. 2024–2025

    Leading technical AI safety

    She leads Coefficient Giving's technical AI safety program in 2024 and contributes to strategy for its AI giving in 2025.

  7. As of October 2026

    Assessing loss-of-control risk

    As of October 2026, she is Technical Staff at METR, where she works on threat modeling and risk assessment for loss-of-control risks from advanced AI.

A language model matched the links in this timeline to people, organizations and papers (provisional, model-judged).

Career

  1. NowMETRTechnical Staff
  2. 2024–2025Coefficient GivingTechnical AI safety program lead
  3. From 2016Open PhilanthropyResearch employee
  4. Effective Altruists of Berkeley student groupFounder

Education

  1. University of California, Berkeley

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Berkeley. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of California, Berkeley. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  3. The median h-index is 55 at universities and 20 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of California, Berkeley. The median h-index is 55 at universities and 20 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes University of California, Berkeley. We estimate how 11,906 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs and government research centers, with net flows and the most common paths.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Ajeya Cotra yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Ajeya Cotra on worldview diversification and how big the future could be | 80,000 Hours 80000hours.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Draft report on AI timelines | LessWrong lesswrong.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Two-year update on my personal AI timelines | LessWrong lesswrong.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. Without specific countermeasures, the easiest path to transformative AI likely leads to AI takeover | LessWrong lesswrong.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. The Future Perfect 50: Ajeya Cotra, senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy | Vox vox.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Ajeya Cotra | METR metr.org. Checked 18 October 2026.