The U.S.-based Mathematical AI Safety Institute (MAISI) will develop “precise, robust, and reusable methods” to put numbers onto the risks of the technology and spur ways of addressing them. Jacob Tsimerman, a University of Toronto professor who won the Fields Medal in July, will be the organization’s scientific director. (The Logic)

Talking point: The mathematician’s work helped solve one of the field’s big outstanding theoretical problems. AI is now making or assisting with those kinds of breakthroughs. In May, OpenAI claimed one of its models had made a crucial geometry finding; Tsimerman called it “a really impressive piece of work” on a problem he’d tried to solve himself. After winning the Fields—akin to a Nobel for young mathematicians—he took a leave from U of T to work on AI safety at the ChatGPT maker. MAISI is designed to bring those two worlds together, bringing up to 30 mathematics faculty members together for a semester in the Bay Area to learn from and work with the engineers and researchers developing the most advanced models. It’s funded by an initial US$10 million from Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, which has been associated with the effective altruism movement.

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