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Eliezer Yudkowsky - Wikipedia

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Wikipedia·en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky

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Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.

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Useful background reference for understanding a key figure who helped establish AI safety as a field; relevant for tracing the intellectual history of alignment research and existential risk discourse.

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Importance: 60/100wiki pagereference

Summary

Wikipedia biographical article on Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) and a pioneering figure in AI safety and existential risk research. Yudkowsky is known for early foundational work on AI alignment, the concept of Friendly AI, and influential writings including the rationalist community blog LessWrong. His work has significantly shaped the discourse around superintelligence risk.

Key Points

  • •Co-founded the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), formerly the Singularity Institute, focused on technical AI alignment research.
  • •Developed the concept of 'Friendly AI' and wrote extensively on the dangers of misaligned superintelligent systems.
  • •Founded LessWrong, an influential rationalist community blog that helped cultivate early AI safety thinking.
  • •Author of 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality' and the 'Sequences', which spread rationalist and AI risk ideas widely.
  • •Has become increasingly pessimistic about AI safety outcomes, publicly expressing high probability estimates for existential catastrophe from advanced AI.

Cited by 1 page

PageTypeQuality
Eliezer YudkowskyPerson35.0

3 FactBase facts citing this source

EntityPropertyValueAs Of
Eliezer YudkowskyEducationSelf-taught; no formal university education—
Eliezer YudkowskyNotable ForFounder of MIRI; pioneer of AI alignment as a field; author of 'The Sequences' on rationality; author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality; prominent AI doomer—
Eliezer YudkowskyBirth Year1979—

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American AI researcher and writer (born 1979)

| Eliezer Yudkowsky |
| --- |
| [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Eliezer_Yudkowsky%2C_Stanford_2006_%28square_crop%29.jpg/250px-Eliezer_Yudkowsky%2C_Stanford_2006_%28square_crop%29.jpg)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eliezer_Yudkowsky,_Stanford_2006_(square_crop).jpg)<br>Yudkowsky at [Stanford University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University "Stanford University") in 2006 |
| Born | Eliezer Shlomo (or Solomon) Yudkowsky<br> (1979-09-11) September 11, 1979 (age 46)<br>[Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago "Chicago"), [Illinois](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois "Illinois"), U.S. |
| Organization | [Machine Intelligence Research Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Intelligence_Research_Institute "Machine Intelligence Research Institute") |
| Known for | Coining the term [friendly artificial intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_artificial_intelligence "Friendly artificial intelligence")<br>Research on [AI safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_safety "AI safety")<br>Rationality writing<br>Founder of _[LessWrong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LessWrong "LessWrong")_ |
| Website | [www.yudkowsky.net](https://www.yudkowsky.net/) |

**Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky** ([/ˌɛliˈɛzərjʊdˈkaʊski/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English "Help:IPA/English") [_EL-ee-EH-zər yuud-KOW-skee_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key "Help:Pronunciation respelling key");[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-1) born September 11, 1979) is an American artificial intelligence researcher[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-:0-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-3)[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-4)[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-:1-5) and writer on [decision theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_theory "Decision theory") and [ethics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics "Ethics"), known for popularizing ideas related to [friendly artificial intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_artificial_intelligence "Friendly artificial intelligence").[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-aima-6)[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-auto1-7) He is the founder of and a research fellow at the [Machine Intelligence Research Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Intelligence_Research_Institute "Machine Intelligence Research Institute") (MIRI), a private research nonprofit based in [Berkeley, California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley,_California "Berkeley, California").[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Yudkowsky#cite_note-8) His work on the prospec

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