PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Alex Lawsen

Alex Lawsen is an AI governance grantmaker and writer whose work spans forecasting platforms, AI risk, and policy. He coauthored a 2021 paper on forecasting-platform incentives and, after eight years teaching, advised students at 80,000 Hours in 2022. His 2023 scenarios mapped possible existential risks from advanced AI, and his 2025 essay argued that employees at AI companies need familiar, easy-to-use whistleblowing systems. As of October 2026, he is a senior program officer on AI Governance at Coefficient Giving; in May 2026, he sought technical staff and described grantmaking as scoping projects, finding people to run them, and providing resources.

Links
Website

Timeline

  1. 2021

    Forecasting-platform alignment

    In 2021, he coauthors “Alignment Problems With Current Forecasting Platforms” with Nuño Sempere. They classify forecasting-platform problems as reward-specification or principal-agent problems and propose solutions.

  2. By February 2022

    Oxford physics and teaching

    By February 2022, he has spent eight years as a high-school teacher. He holds a physics degree from Oxford and a PGCE from the Institute of Education through Teach First; his school work includes mathematics at Frederick Bremer School and mathematics and physics at King's Maths School.

  3. February 2022

    Student advising at 80,000 Hours

    In February 2022, he works as an advisor at 80,000 Hours after spending eight years teaching high-school students.

  4. February 2022

    Advice for high-school students

    In February 2022, he appears in 80,000 Hours' After Hours podcast with Keiran Harris to discuss advice for high-school students.

  5. April 2023

    AI existential-risk scenarios

    In April 2023, he publishes “AI x-risk, approximately ordered by embarrassment,” a set of scenarios for how advanced AI could lead to existential risks.

  6. By September 2023

    Joining Open Philanthropy

    By September 2023, he moves from 80,000 Hours to Open Philanthropy's AI Governance team.

  7. March 2025

    Whistleblowing at AI firms

    In March 2025, he argues that whistleblowing systems should be widely known and easy for employees to use. He applies the case to AI companies, where red-teamers and evaluation staff may see test results that look wrong.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior program officer at Coefficient

    In May 2026, he seeks technical staff with backgrounds in machine learning, hardware, or information security for Coefficient Giving's AI Governance and Policy team; he describes grantmaking as scoping projects, finding people to run them, and providing resources. By August 2026, he is a senior program officer at Coefficient Giving and does targeted headhunting for board roles. As of October 2026, he is a senior program officer on AI Governance at Coefficient Giving.

Career

  1. From 2026Coefficient GivingSenior Program Officer
  2. Until 202380,000 HoursAdvisor
  3. From 2023Open Philanthropy
  4. Until 2022Frederick Bremer SchoolMathematics Teacher
  5. Until 2022King's Maths SchoolMathematics and Physics Teacher

Education

  1. University of OxfordPhysics degree
  2. Institute of EducationPGCE

From the biography.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Alex Lawsen speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 20 October 2026.

  1. Alex Lawsen on his advice for students80,000 Hours · 31 August 2024 · 2 h 25 min
  2. Alex Lawsen on avoiding 10 mistakes people make when pursuing a high impact career80,000 Hours · 9 August 2024 · 2 h 18 min

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes Open Philanthropy. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Oxford. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Oxford. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes University College London. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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

  1. Alignment Problems With Current Forecasting Platforms arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Alex Lawsen kingsmathsschool.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Alex Lawsen on his advice for students 80000hours.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. AI x-risk, approximately ordered by embarrassment lesswrong.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Alex Lawsen on avoiding 10 mistakes people make when pursuing a high-impact career 80000hours.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Having a Whistleblowing Function Isn't Enough lawsen.substack.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. More on Deferral lawsen.substack.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Grantmaking for AI safety | Career review 80000hours.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Meet the team 80000hours.org. Checked 21 October 2026.