The Center for AI Safety (CAIS) made significant strides in 2024 across research, advocacy, and field-building initiatives aimed at reducing societal-scale risks from artificial intelligence.
Research breakthroughs: CAIS advanced several key technical innovations in AI safety during 2024.
- The organization developed “circuit breakers” technology that successfully prevented AI models from producing dangerous outputs, withstanding 20,000 jailbreak attempts
- They created the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proxy Benchmark featuring 3,668 questions to measure hazardous knowledge in AI systems
- Research on “safetywashing” revealed that many AI safety benchmarks actually measure general capabilities rather than specific safety improvements
- The team developed tamper-resistant safeguards for open-weight models to prevent malicious use while maintaining accessibility
- HarmBench, a standardized evaluation framework for automated red teaming, was adopted by US and UK AI Safety Institutes
Policy and advocacy impact: CAIS expanded its influence in policy circles through strategic initiatives.
- The organization launched CAIS Action Fund with bipartisan support from key political figures
- Successfully advocated for $10M in funding for the US AI Safety Institute
- Co-sponsored California’s SB 1047, which gained broad coalition support despite ultimate veto
- Organized letter campaigns gaining signatures from 80+ tech organizations supporting NIST’s AI work
Community development and education: CAIS strengthened the AI safety field through various educational and support programs.
- Supported 77 new research papers through their compute cluster, which has enabled 350 researchers total
- Published the first comprehensive textbook on AI safety, ethics, and society
- Launched an online course with 240 participants
- Established a $250,000 competition for safety benchmark development
- Organized workshops and socials at major AI conferences, connecting hundreds of researchers
Resource expansion: The organization’s reach and impact grew substantially in 2024.
- Their compute cluster supported the production of papers garnering over 4,000 citations
- Newsletter subscribers tripled to exceed 24,000
- Engaged 1,200+ collaborators in the Humanity’s Last Exam initiative
Strategic outlook: Looking ahead to 2025, CAIS aims to leverage its expanded capabilities for greater impact in measuring and improving AI safety, with several technical publications planned for early in the year.
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