Meet the MIRI TGT team

Aaron’s research at MIRI is focused on International Coordination on AI, with an emphasis on Verification Mechanisms. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pitzer College in 2022 and quickly transitioned to working in AI safety. After a year of up-skilling and helping grow the field, Aaron started doing independent AI alignment research with the MATS program in summer 2023. He later managed 4 research teams through SPAR, the Supervised Program in Alignment Research working on sycophancy and interpretability. Aaron joined the Technical Governance Team in July 2024.

David Abecassis is a game designer with experience with rapid prototyping, strategy games,  and social systems design. He notably was the lead designer of Teamfight Tactics from its inception through launch. He is presently a MATS scholar working to turn his expertise toward the analysis of cooperative and competitive dynamics relevant to the governance of transformative AI. David has a BS in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.

Lisa research leads the technical governance team, which she founded in February 2024 after joining MIRI as research manager in summer 2023. At MIRI Lisa focuses on concrete proposals for AI regulation, AI security and Verification Mechanisms. She is a Foresight Fellow in Intelligent Cooperation, mentors for MATS, and advises on Foresight AI Safety grants. Before MIRI, Lisa was an empirical researcher at MATS mentored by Alex Turner, during which they pioneered the technique of activation steering. Her education includes a BSc in Computer Science from TUM, graduate studies in Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning for robotics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and some coursework in medicine and neuroscience. Lisa also holds an honors degree in Technology Management and Entrepreneurship. Her current research focus includes AI Security, Verification mechanisms for coordination, and an ongoing (side) interest in whole brain emulation.

Peter currently works on the limitations and uses of AI evaluations and their role in regulation. He has a Masters degree in Physics from the University of Otago, and has published research in quantum optics and quantum fluids. He worked on AI safety as part of the first MATS cohort, and at the Center for Human-Compatible AI on reward learning. Peter joined MIRI in December 2022, initially working on technical alignment, and has worked on the Technical Governance Team since February 2024.