The Open Philanthropy Project awarded a grant of $500,000 to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), an organization doing technical research intended to reduce potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence. Open Philanthropy made this grant despite strong reservations about MIRI’s research, in light of other considerations detailed on its grant page. This grant falls within Open Philanthropy Project's work on potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence (AI), one of its focus areas within global catastrophic risks.
The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) is a nonprofit working on computer science and mathematics research intended to reduce potential risks from advanced AI. Open Philanthropy Project staff have been engaging in informal conversations with MIRI for a number of years. These conversations contributed to its decision to investigate potential risks from advanced AI and eventually make it one of Open Philanthropy's focus areas.