Joe O’Brien

Researcher

Selected Publications

Joe is a Researcher on the Frontier Security team at IAPS, focused on policies to drive R&D around AI assurance and reliability, AI crisis preparedness, and AI developer transparency. Previously, he has previously completed fellowships with the Federation of American Scientists, the Center for the Governance of AI, and Rethink Priorities. He holds an MA in Technology Ethics and Policy from Duke University and a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont.

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Shaun Ee
Asymmetry by Design: Boosting Cyber Defenders with Differential Access to AI
Shaun Ee

“Differential access” is a strategy to tilt the cybersecurity balance toward defense by shaping access to advanced AI-powered cyber capabilities. We introduce three possible approaches, Promote Access, Manage Access, and Deny by Default, with one constant across all approaches — even in the most restrictive scenarios, developers should aim to advantage cyber defenders.

Shaun Ee
Joe O'Brien
Coordinated Disclosure of Dual-Use Capabilities: An Early Warning System for Advanced AI
Joe O'Brien

Future AI systems may be capable of enabling offensive cyber operations, lowering the barrier to entry for designing and synthesizing bioweapons, and other high-consequence dual-use applications. If and when these capabilities are discovered, who should know first, and how? We describe a process for information-sharing on dual-use capabilities and make recommendations for governments and industry to develop this process.

Joe O'Brien
Joe O'Brien
Towards Publicly Accountable Frontier LLMs: Building an External Scrutiny Ecosystem under the ASPIRE Framework
Joe O'Brien

This paper discusses how external scrutiny (such as third-party auditing, red-teaming, and researcher access) can bring public accountability to bear on decisions regarding the development and deployment of frontier AI models.

Joe O'Brien
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