PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Phil Hackemann

Also known as Philip Hackemann

Phil Hackemann is a German researcher, investor and politician whose co-authored position paper on AI alignment won the Outstanding Position Paper Award at ICML 2026. He studied at Zeppelin University and the London School of Economics, then earned a doctorate at LMU Munich between 2020 and 2025, with research stays at Oxford and Berkeley. In politics, he served as a deputy federal chairman of the Young Liberals from 2016 to 2018 and was a lead candidate in the 2024 European Parliament election. In the paper, written with Sarah Ball of the Munich Center for Machine Learning, he argued that alignment methods are dual-use technologies that malicious actors may misuse for censorship and manipulation. He is a partner at the venture fund 5P Future of Health and a venture partner at Feast Ventures.

Now at
5P Future of Health and Feast Ventures
Born
1995
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 2014–2018

    Bachelor's at Zeppelin University

    He studies sociology, politics and economics at Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen from 2014 to 2018, earning a B.A. with an additional minor in corporate management.

  2. 2016–2018

    Young Liberals deputy chair

    In 2016, at age 20 and still a student, he is elected one of the deputy federal chairs of the Young Liberals. He holds the post until 2018.

  3. 2018–2019

    Master's degree at LSE

    He completes a Master of Science in EU Politics at the London School of Economics in 2019, with distinction and a place among the top five of the class.

  4. 2020–2025

    Doctorate at LMU Munich

    From 2020 to 2025, he works toward a doctorate (Dr. rer. soc., magna cum laude) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, with research stays at the University of Oxford and the University of California, Berkeley. His academic work covers European integration, the democratic legitimacy of the EU and the societal impact of artificial intelligence.

  5. 2024

    EU election lead candidate

    In 2024, the Young Liberals and the Bavarian FDP nominate him as their lead candidate for the European Parliament election, and he takes list position 7 on the FDP's federal list. He had run as a lead candidate in 2019 as well.

  6. 2026

    An ICML position paper award

    With Sarah Ball of the Munich Center for Machine Learning at LMU Munich, he wins the Outstanding Position Paper Award at ICML 2026 in Seoul, where he is listed as an independent researcher. Their paper, “Position: The Alignment Community is Unintentionally Building a Censor’s Toolkit”, argues that modern alignment methods, designed to prevent harmful output, are dual-use technologies that malicious actors may misuse for censorship and manipulation.

  7. Since 2025

    Venture partner for health tech

    He becomes a partner at the venture capital fund 5P Future of Health in September 2025 and a venture partner at Feast Ventures in June 2026; both funds invest in health tech and agrifood startups. He also invests in early-stage startups as a business angel through PH·E.

Career

  1. Since 2026Feast VenturesVenture Partner
  2. Since 20255P Future of HealthPartner
  3. 2016–2018Young LiberalsDeputy Federal Chair

Education

  1. 2025LMU MunichDr. rer. soc.
  2. 2019London School of Economics and Political ScienceMaster of Science in EU Politics
  3. 2018Zeppelin UniversityB.A.

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Berkeley. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of California, Berkeley. 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 California, Berkeley. 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 University of California, Berkeley. 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

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  1. Biography | Phil Hackemann phil.hackemann.de. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. JuLis: Kuhle bleibt JuLi-Bundesvorsitzender · Leipziger Zeitung l-iz.de. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Politics | Phil Hackemann phil.hackemann.de. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Dr. Phil Hackemann | alphaXiv alphaxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Phil Hackemann - Profil bei abgeordnetenwatch abgeordnetenwatch.de. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. ICML 2026 Awards icml.cc. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. ICML 2026: Sarah Ball receives Outstanding Paper Award - Department of Statistics - LMU Munich stat.lmu.de. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Position: The Alignment Community Is Unintentionally Building a Censor's Toolkit s-ball-10.github.io. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Entrepreneurship | Phil Hackemann phil.hackemann.de. Checked 22 October 2026.