Biography:Nate Soares

From HandWiki
Nate Soares
Soares in 2025
Born1989 (age 36–37)
EducationGeorge Washington University (BS)
OccupationAI safety researcher, author
Known forAI alignment, AI existential risk
Works
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies (2025)
TitlePresident of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute
Websitemindingourway.com

Nathaniel Soares is an American artificial intelligence author and researcher known for his work on existential risk from AI.[1][2] In 2014, Soares co-authored a paper that introduced the term AI alignment, the challenge of making increasingly capable AIs behave as intended.[3][4] Soares is the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI),[5] a research nonprofit based in Berkeley, California.

In 2025, Soares co-authored If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies with Eliezer Yudkowsky. In the book, he argues that creating vastly smarter-than-human AI (or superintelligence) “using anything remotely like current techniques” would very likely result in human extinction; he further contends that AI alignment remains nascent and that international regulatory intervention will likely be required to prevent developers from racing to build catastrophically dangerous systems.[6][7][8][9] The book received mainstream attention and mixed reviews: The Guardian selected it as "Book of the day" and described it as "clear" though its conclusions are "hard to swallow"; The Washington Post characterized it as a polemic that offers few concrete instructions; and The New Yorker featured it in "Briefly Noted." Coverage also included reporting in Wired, Semafor, and SFGATE.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

Life

Soares received his Bachelor of Science degree (in computer science and economics) from George Washington University in 2011.[16] Soares worked as a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and as a contractor for the United States Department of Defense, creating software tools for the National Defense University, before spending time at Microsoft and Google.[17][18]

Soares left Google in 2014 to become a research fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.[19] He served as the lead author on MIRI's research agenda, which in January 2015 was cited heavily in Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence, an open letter calling for AI scientists to prioritize technical research “not only on making AI more capable, but also on maximizing the societal benefit of AI.”[20][21] This included “research on the possibility of superintelligent machines or rapid, sustained self-improvement (intelligence explosion).”[20]

Shortly after joining MIRI, Soares became the institute's executive director.[19][22] In 2017, he gave a talk at Google outlining open research problems in AI alignment, and arguing that the alignment problem looks especially difficult.[23]

In 2023, MIRI shifted from a focus on alignment research to a focus on warning policymakers and the public about the risks posed by potential future developments in AI.[24] Coinciding with this change, Soares transitioned from the role of executive director to president, with Malo Bourgon serving as MIRI's new CEO.[24][25]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ Spirlet, Thibault (2025-09-27). "Superintelligence could wipe us out if we rush into it — but humanity can still pull back, a top AI safety expert says". Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-top-expert-rushing-artificial-superintelligence-could-wipe-us-out-2025-9. 
  2. ↑ Waters, Richard (2014-10-31). "Artificial intelligence: machine v man". Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/abc942cc-5fb3-11e4-8c27-00144feabdc0. 
  3. ↑ Yudkowsky, Eliezer; Soares, Nate. Shutdown Buttons and Corrigibility. https://ifanyonebuildsit.com/11/shutdown-buttons-and-corrigibility. Retrieved January 21, 2026. "We named this broad research problem ‘corrigibility,’ in the 2014 paper that also introduced the term ‘AI alignment problem’ (which had previously been called the ‘friendly AI problem’ by us and the ‘control problem’ by others).". 
  4. ↑ Soares, Nate; Fallenstein, Benja; Yudkowsky, Eliezer; Armstrong, Stuart (2015). "Corrigibility". AAAI Publications. pp. 74-82. https://cdn.aaai.org/ocs/ws/ws0067/10124-45900-1-PB.pdf. Retrieved January 22, 2026. 
  5. ↑ Whipple, Tom (2025-09-12). "AI — it’s going to kill us all". The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/anyone-builds-everyone-dies-case-against-superintelligent-ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-nate-soares-review-9hclcfwch. 
  6. ↑ Canfield, Kevin (2025-09-02). "'Everyone, everywhere on Earth, will die': Why 2 new books on AI foretell doom". San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/superintelligent-ai-books-risk-21021893.php. 
  7. ↑ Louallen, Doc (2025-09-19). "New book claims superintelligent AI development is racing toward global catastrophe". ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-book-claims-superintelligent-ai-development-racing-global/story?id=125737766. 
  8. ↑ Roose, Kevin (2025-09-12). "A.I.'s Prophet of Doom Wants to Shut It All Down". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/technology/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-book.html. 
  9. ↑ Bordelon, Brendan (2025-10-01). "Why D.C. should be way more worried about AI". Politico. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2025/10/01/the-ai-doomer-urging-dc-allies-to-get-crazy-00589858. "In his view, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are racing toward the profoundly dangerous goal of artificial superintelligence — an AI that far outstrips the capabilities of any one human, or even all humans combined. Once that comes into existence, Soares argues, it will be impossible to control[....] Soares sketched out a policy vision to stave off humanity’s demise. His ask is in one sense simple: a global ban on advanced AI research." 
  10. ↑ Shariatmadari, David (2025-09-22). "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies review – how AI could kill us all". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/22/if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies-review-how-ai-could-kill-us-all. "…as clear as its conclusions are hard to swallow." 
  11. ↑ Byron, Grace (2025-09-28). "Could AI be a truly apocalyptic threat? These writers think so.". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/09/28/yudkowsky-soares-everyone-dies-review/. 
  12. ↑ "Briefly Noted". The New Yorker. 2025-10-13. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/13/if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies-the-improbable-victoria-woodhull-the-wilderness-the-unbroken-coast. Retrieved 2026-01-22. 
  13. ↑ "The Doomers Who Insist AI Will Kill Us All". Wired. 2025-09-05. https://www.wired.com/story/the-doomers-who-insist-ai-will-kill-us-all/. Retrieved 2026-01-22. 
  14. ↑ "Researchers give doomsday warning about building AI too fast". Semafor. 2025-09-12. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/12/2025/researchers-give-doomsday-warning-about-building-ai-too-fast. 
  15. ↑ "Bay Area researchers argue that tech industry is ‘careening toward disaster’". SFGATE. 2025-09-24. https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/divisive-book-san-francisco-billboard-21063829.php. 
  16. ↑ "News of Area Students". White River Valley Herald. 2011-05-19. https://www.ourherald.com/articles/news-of-area-students-153/. 
  17. ↑ Soares, Nate. "Nathaniel Soares". Résumé. https://so8res.com/resume.pdf. 
  18. ↑ "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: How Artificial Superintelligence Might Wipe Out Our Entire Species". The Great Simplification (Podcast). 3 December 2025. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 O'Connell, Mark (2017-02-28). "If Silicon Valley Types Are Scared of A.I., Should We Be?". Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2017/02/if-silicon-valley-types-are-scared-of-artificial-intelligence-should-we-all-be.html. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Russell, Stuart; Dewey, Daniel; Tegmark, Max (2015). "Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence". AI Magazine (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) 36 (4): 105-114. doi:10.5840/jphil2020117516. https://futureoflife.org/data/documents/research_priorities.pdf. 
  21. ↑ Soares, Nate; Fallenstein, Benya (2017). "Agent Foundations for Aligning Machine Intelligence with Human Interests: A Technical Research Agenda". The Technological Singularity. Springer. ISBN 9783662540312. https://intelligence.org/files/TechnicalAgenda.pdf. 
  22. ↑ Gallagher, Brian (2018-03-12). "Scary AI Is More “Fantasia” Than “Terminator”". Nautilus. https://nautil.us/scary-ai-is-more-fantasia-than-terminator-237011/. 
  23. ↑ Chivers, Tom (2018-07-16). "How Disney shows an AI apocalypse is possible". UnHerd. https://unherd.com/2018/07/disney-shows-ai-apocalypse-possible/. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Duleba, Gretta (2023-10-10). "Announcing MIRI’s new CEO and leadership team". MIRI Updates (Machine Intelligence Research Institute). https://intelligence.org/2023/10/10/announcing-miris-new-ceo-and-leadership-team/. 
  25. ↑ Gold, Ashley; Curi, Maria (2023-12-05). "Senate AI forums wrap for 2023 this week". Axios. https://www.axios.com/pro/tech-policy/2023/12/05/senate-ai-forums-wrap-for-2023-this-week. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Biography:Nate_Soares&oldid=4295277"