PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Julia Galef

Julia Galef is a writer and TED speaker who is an advisor to OpenAI. She earned a statistics degree at Columbia University in 2005 and spent several years doing social-science research with professors at Columbia, Harvard and MIT. She co-founded the Rationally Speaking podcast in 2010 and the Center for Applied Rationality in 2012, then became the podcast's solo host in April 2015. Her 2016 TED talk and 2018 Long Now lecture explored scout and soldier mindsets; The Scout Mindset appeared in April 2021.

Now at
OpenAI
Born
1983
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Links
Website

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 2005

    Statistics and social research

    She earns a B.A. in statistics from Columbia University in 2005, then spends several years doing social-science research with professors at Columbia, Harvard and MIT. She writes international-economics case studies for Harvard Business School for one year.

  2. 2010

    Co-founding Rationally Speaking

    She co-founds the Rationally Speaking Podcast in January 2010 with philosopher of science Massimo Pigliucci.

  3. 2012

    Co-founding CFAR

    With Anna Salamon, Valentine Smith and Andrew Critch, she co-founds the Center for Applied Rationality in 2012.

  4. April 2015

    Solo podcast host

    In April 2015, she becomes the Rationally Speaking Podcast's solo host.

  5. 2016

    A TED talk on mindsets

    In 2016, her TED talk examines the motivations behind scout and soldier mindsets and how they shape people's interpretations.

  6. September 2018

    A Long Now lecture

    She gives the lecture 'Soldiers and Scouts' at SFJAZZ Center in September 2018, describing how reason can help people seek truth or defend ideas they find useful.

  7. April 2021

    The Scout Mindset

    Portfolio publishes The Scout Mindset in April 2021. The book explores self-deception and describes ways people can catch themselves in the act of fooling themselves.

  8. As of October 2026

    OpenAI advisor and TED speaker

    As of October 2026, she is an advisor to OpenAI and a TED speaker who investigates how and why people change their minds.

Career

  1. NowOpenAIAdvisor
  2. From 2012Center for Applied RationalityCo-founder
  3. Columbia UniversityResearcher
  4. Harvard UniversityResearcher
  5. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyResearcher

Education

  1. 2005Columbia UniversityB.A. in statistics

From the biography.

Videos

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

  1. #7 - Julia Galef on making humanity more rational, and why Twitter isn’t all bad80,000 Hours · 27 August 2018 · 1 h 14 min

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

  1. Among employers with 30+ full-time cases, OpenAI leads primary technical role H-1B pay at $310,000, and Amazon, Google and Microsoft file 57% of all casesIncludes OpenAI. Across 440,669 certified US H-1B filings from 44 employers (FY2020–FY2026), OpenAI leads primary technical role base pay at $310,000 and xAI leads overall base pay at $290,000.
  2. 22 of 133 people shaping AI with a former OpenAI role now work at AnthropicIncludes OpenAI. Our estimates of where OpenAI recruits came from and where 133 people with former OpenAI roles work now, including the companies and labs they founded.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes OpenAI. 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. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes OpenAI. 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.

Sources and credits

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

  1. My Story – Julia Galef juliagalef.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Projects – Julia Galef juliagalef.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Mission | Center for Applied Rationality rationality.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Julia Galef | Speaker | TED ted.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Julia Galef: Soldiers and Scouts: Why our minds weren't built for truth, and how we can change that — LONG NOW TALKS longnow.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef: 9780735217553 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books penguinrandomhouse.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Julia Galef | Penguin Random House penguinrandomhouse.com. Checked 21 October 2026.