Hello, my name is Mark Brakel. I currently work as Director of Policy at the Future of Life Institute (FLI), where I lead the team advising governments on how to navigate increasingly advanced artificial intelligence.

 

You can find an overview of policy work by myself and my colleagues on this page. If you are interested in my takes on AI policy, you can subcribe to my monthly newsletter here or follow me on LinkedIn for regular video updates.

 

Over the course of my work, I have addressed the expert body working on autonomous weapons at the UN in Geneva, the European Parliament, and the Defence Committee of the German parliament. I’ve also spoken about FLI’s work to Politico, Fox News, BBC World, German Der Spiegel and the Dutch NRC Handelsblad, among others.

 

Before joining FLI, I (unsuccessfully) ran for parliament and worked as a diplomat. I spent time in both The Hague and at the Embassy in Iraq, where I helped establish an entrepreneurship program for young Iraqis.

 

I am a former Fulbright Fellow and hold a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford, and a master’s from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

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​When I am not working, I enjoy cold-water swims and continuing my lifelong struggle learning Arabic. If you share my interest in the language, here is some advice I wish I had received before starting out.

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You can reach me through markbrakel [at] proton [dot] me, or on mark [at] futureoflife [dot] org for questions related to FLI. Please pick one depending on your question, and don't use both.