What should you do next?
Do you work at a frontier AI company, or expect to soon?
For example: a research, engineering, policy, or ops role at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, or SpaceXAI.
Do you hold a position of political or public influence?
For example: elected office, a government or regulatory role, party or campaign staff, journalism, a large public following, or an academic platform.
Do you have professional skills, connections, or work that could be leveraged to affect how AI gets built or used?
For example, skills or a job in: tech, security, law, policy, finance, education, or any field that touches how AI tools are adopted or governed.

The advising team is incredibly well-researched and connected in AI safety. Their advice is far more insightful, personalized, and impact-focused than most of what I got from Google, self-reflection, or the peers or mentors I would typically go to.

Why now▾
If you work at a frontier AI company, you have rare expertise and influence that may disappear soon. There are now dozens of examples of current and former frontier employees using that leverage to shape the future of AI. To name just a few from OpenAI itself:
- Current employees have publicly and privately raised concerns about the company’s political activities, prompting meaningful clarifications and commitments from OpenAI.
- Jade Leung, former OpenAI Governance Lead, is now CTO of the UK Government’s AI Security Institute.
- Daniel Kokotajlo, former OpenAI Policy Researcher, went on to found the AI Futures Project and co-author the influential AI 2027 report.

80,000 Hours advising showed me that I could pursue a career that was both ethically and personally rewarding. They showed me that my job horizons — and therefore opportunities to do good — were broader than I had thought, even with my heavy involvement in effective altruism.

Why now▾
AI is rising in its importance to members of the public faster than any other issue. It’s also a relatively new topic of public conversation; public opinion on AI is not divided along clear partisan lines or heavily influenced by established interest groups — for now. This may be a brief moment during which public messaging on AI and its risks is extremely high-leverage.

My advisor really went above and beyond and used every opportunity to immerse me in the world of AI safety. My advisor was also the one who connected me with SaferAI’s chief of staff, who encouraged me to apply for a role they had just published that I had somehow not seen on job boards. I had the job within a few weeks after that.

Why now▾
This is a unique moment in AI. Many of the world’s major institutions and professional fields are urgently figuring out what the advent of powerful AI systems means for them. Right now, lawyers, educators, and financial professionals who are willing to get up to speed on AI and AI risk can have tremendous influence on how society navigates future advancements in AI progress.
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References from our video and the resources that guided our research.
In-depth sources:
- The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future | Hagey, 2025
- Empire of AI: Inside the reckless race for total domination | Hao, 2026
- “Sam Altman May Control Our Future–Can He Be Trusted?” | Farrow & Marantz, 2026
- “OpenAI: Facts from a Weekend” | Mowshowitz, 2023a
- “OpenAI: The Battle of the Board” | Mowshowitz, 2023b
- “OpenAI #10: Reflections” | Mowshowitz, 2025a
- “OpenAI #12: Battle of the Board Redux” | Mowshowitz, 2025b
Sam Altman blog posts:
OpenAI blog posts:
- “Introducing OpenAI” | OpenAI, 2015
- “OpenAI LP” | March, 2019
- “OpenAI announces leadership transition” | OpenAI, 2023
- “OpenAI and Elon Musk” | OpenAI, 2024
- “Evolving OpenAI’s structure” | OpenAI, 2025a
- “Strengthening our safety ecosystem with external testing” | OpenAI, 2025b
- “OpenAI raises $122 billion to accelerate the next phase of AI” | OpenAI, 2026
Additional media:
- “Fireside Chat – Sam Altman President, YCombinator and Mike Curtis, VP of Engineering, Airbnb – 2015” | Airbnb, 2015
- “-” | Altman, 2026
- “Assessing Claude Mythos Preview’s cybersecurity capabilities” | Anthropic, 2026
- “Google AI defeats human Go champion” | BBC, 2017
- “OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the Future of AI” | Bloomberg Technology, 2023
- “Google’s AlphaGo AI defeats human in first game of Go contest” | Borowiec, 2016
- Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies | Bostrom, 2014
- “Statement on AI Extinction Risk” | Center for AI Safety, 2023
- “A Fundraising Survival Guide” | Graham, 2008
- “Sam Altman for President” | Graham, 2014
- “Inside the Chaos at OpenAI” | Hao & Warzel, 2023
- “ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base – analyst note” | Hu, 2023
- “Huge number of OpenAI staff threaten to quit, join Microsoft, unless board resigns” | Kelly, 2023
- “Thinking Machines Lab Raises a Record $2 Billion, Announces Cofounders” | Knight, 2025
- “An update on our general capability evaluations” | METR, 2024
- “Musk v. Altman: Much ado about nothing” | Patel, 2026
- “Sam Altman no longer owns OpenAI Startup Fund” | Primack, 2024
- “OpenAI’s startup empire: The companies backed by its venture fund” | Temkin, 2025
- “Shrinking AGI timelines: a review of expert forecasts” | Todd, 2025
- “How to govern AI – even if it’s hard to predict” | Toner, 2024
- “Sam Altman reinstated as OpenAI CEO with new board members” | Verma et al., 2023
Recent developments:
See more work by the people whose technical craft made this video possible:
- Phoebe Brooks / Writer, Director, Editor
- Liberty Scarlett, Millie Wilkie / Production Designers
- Charles Mori / Director of Photography
- Scarlett Langley / Production Assistant
- Nick Dolph / Additional Cinematography
- Sam Watkins / Graphics & Animation
- Daniel Recinto / Graphics & Animation
- Ale Bonilla Rojas / Graphics & Animation
- Alex Savard / Graphic Design
- Michelle Foley / Graphic Design
- Emily Marais / Graphic Design
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