IAPS Contract Opportunity: Pacing Research Register

IAPS’s Frontier Security team is looking for a contracted research assistant for 2–4 weeks full-time to build out a pacing research register. The register will be a living literature review that tracks the best current answers to key questions about AI pacing.

Context

A lot of work on pacing, pausing, and/or AGI/ASI development bans is happening across the AI governance community, but no single place collects the findings or tracks how mature the research is on each question. We’ve built a skeleton register from several public and private research agendas, but we don’t have the capacity to develop it further.

The role

Your main job is to fill the register. For each question, you’ll find the strongest and most current existing research, link it, and summarize it. That includes the core arguments, how mature the research is, and where people agree or disagree. You may also:

  • Improve the register’s format so the information is easier to read and use

  • Set up a lightweight process for keeping it updated, so others in the community can contribute once it’s established

You’ll work mainly with Joe O’Brien, a researcher on the Frontier Security team. You’ll also engage with researchers in IAPS’s pacing network, who will be important sources and future contributors.

Why this matters

  • For the field: The AI governance community gets one high-quality place to see what’s known about pacing and find the most mature answers quickly.

  • For IAPS: The register feeds directly into IAPS’s pacing workstream as we develop recommendations for stakeholders.

What we’re looking for

  • Strong independent research skills. You can find, evaluate, and prioritize sources with little direction.

  • Clear, concise writing. Much of the work is summarizing, so you need to state arguments, research maturity, and the balance of consensus and disagreement in a few lines.

  • Familiarity with AI governance, including its technical and strategic dimensions.

  • Ability to get up to speed quickly. The register covers everything from verification technology to US–China relations to antitrust. You don’t need expertise in all of these, but you should be able to engage sensibly across them.

Offer details

  • Pay: $50 USD/hour

  • Duration: At least 2 weeks full-time, likely no more than 4 weeks (about 80–160 hours).

  • Start date: As soon as possible.

  • Location: Remote. Contractors based in London or DC are welcome to use IAPS’s offices there.

How to apply

Send a CV, writing sample, and a short note (≤200 words) on your relevant experience to joe@iaps.ai by October 20. Please also confirm in your note where you’ll be based and that you’re legally able to work as an independent contractor there.

About IAPS

The Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS) is a nonpartisan think tank that produces forward-looking policy research to address the implications of advanced artificial intelligence, from today’s frontier models to potential AGI and beyond. Our work equips policymakers and industry leaders to protect innovation while navigating high-magnitude risks and opportunities at the intersection of AI, national security, and geopolitics.

Our work includes:

  • Conducting forward-looking policy research in areas including preparedness, information and supply chain security, and international coordination needed to navigate strategic competition with adversaries who may misuse AI.

  • Cultivating policy talent — IAPS is forging a community of researchers and practitioners from across many policy areas and backgrounds to meet this critical moment.

  • Providing relevant and timely insights to stakeholders across Congress, the executive branch, industry, academia, and civil society.

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