Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that bets early on exceptional people making the world better. We knit talent into networks, bet on the most promising ideas through diverse forms of competition and support, and equip people to scale through partners and modern tools. To realize this vision, Schmidt Futures uses a broad set of tools — including gifts, grants, investments, and startup activity — for charitable, educational, and commercial efforts with a public purpose. Our initiative brings together the efforts of various charitable and non-charitable entities to improve our potential impact by making diverse types of capital available to the efforts we support.
AI2050 is an initiative that supports exceptional people working on key opportunities and hard problems that are critical to get right for society to benefit from AI. These awards will primarily aim to enable and encourage these AI2050 Fellows to undertake bold and ambitious work, often multi-disciplinary, that is typically hard to fund but critical to get right for society to benefit from AI. For more information, see the AI2050 website.
Reporting to the Executive Director of AI2050, the Program Scientist will help lead the scientific and technical aspects of AI2050.
The Program Scientist will focus on:
- Serving as an expert advisor on all aspects of artificial intelligence for Schmidt Futures, and guaranteeing the technical excellence of AI2050.
- Supporting due diligence of grant proposals from academic researchers, nonprofits, and other AI organizations
- Designing performance metrics for the fellowships to ensure effective tracking towards annual goals.
- Fostering partnerships with the AI community, including universities, companies, research institutions, and philanthropic organizations, in support of Schmidt Futures goals.
- Identifying grants or other investment opportunities for Schmidt Futures that are consistent with the approved program goals and approach, drawing on an extensive network in scientific and academic circles.
- Participating in relevant industry or academic conferences and events, representing the program’s and Schmidt Futures’ presence on AI topics.
- Working closely with leadership at Schmidt Futures responsible for delivery for all programs to ensure that our efforts meet or exceed their objectives.
- Exploring new avenues to shape the broader AI2050 strategy.
- Technical expertise in the latest large language models (LLMs).
- Expert-level knowledge of at least one, and preferably multiple fields related to the Hard Problems in AI.
- Experience producing technical / scientific writing for expert and general audiences.
- Deep relationships in the AI community and experience working with AI-focused institutions.
- Ability to critically analyze and assess grant proposals and other investment opportunities for scientific and technical excellence.
- Demonstrated ability to develop research partnerships and to lead such efforts end-to-end.
- General scientific and technical expertise that goes beyond areas of established credentials and degrees.
- Public profile and extensive network in the sciences that will allow Schmidt Futures to continue to build on our reputation in this area.
- Have a PhD from an accredited institution, focused on artificial intelligence, computer science, data science, math, or some other relevant field.
- Have at least 3 years of work experience following the PhD in academia, business, government, or philanthropy.
- Have a demonstrated track record of research in artificial intelligence including publications as well as applying for and obtaining scientific research grants.
- Have demonstrated ability to collaborate and a record of impact in high-intensity, team-based environments.
- Have the highest integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality.
Futures Action Network, LLC, which operates Schmidt Futures, is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer that proudly pursues and hires a diverse workforce. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion or religious belief, ethnic or national origin, nationality, sex, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws or prohibited by Company policy. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace and strictly prohibit harassment of any kind.
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