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Jaan Tallinn - Wikipedia
referenceCredibility Rating
3/5
Good(3)Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.
Rating inherited from publication venue: Wikipedia
Useful reference for understanding a key philanthropic figure in the AI safety ecosystem; Tallinn's funding and advocacy have significantly shaped the field's institutional landscape.
Metadata
Importance: 45/100wiki pagereference
Summary
Wikipedia biography of Jaan Tallinn, Estonian software engineer and co-founder of Skype, who became a prominent AI safety philanthropist and activist. He co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and the Future of Life Institute (FLI), and has been a major funder of AI safety research. His transition from tech entrepreneur to existential risk advocate makes him a significant figure in the AI safety community.
Key Points
- •Co-founder of Skype, whose success provided the financial resources enabling his later philanthropic focus on AI safety
- •Co-founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at Cambridge alongside Nick Bostrom and others
- •Co-founded the Future of Life Institute (FLI), which funds AI safety research and organized early open letters on AI risks
- •Has been one of the most prominent individual funders of AI alignment and existential risk research organizations
- •Frequently speaks and writes about the dangers of unaligned artificial general intelligence as a civilizational risk
Cited by 2 pages
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Survival and Flourishing Fund | Organization | 59.0 |
| Jaan Tallinn | Person | 53.0 |
2 FactBase facts citing this source
| Entity | Property | Value | As Of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaan Tallinn | Valuation | 900000000 | 2025 |
| Jaan Tallinn | Net Worth | $900 million | 2025 |
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Estonian programmer and investor
| Jaan Tallinn |
| --- |
| [](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jaan_Tallinn.jpg) |
| Born | (1972-02-14) 14 February 1972 (age 54)[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn#cite_note-1)<br>[Tallinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn "Tallinn"), Estonia |
| Education | [University of Tallinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tallinn "University of Tallinn") (BSc)\[ _[contradictory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:All_self-contradictory_articles "Category:All self-contradictory articles")_\] |
| Occupations | programmer, investor, philanthropist, the city of Tallinn |
| Known for | [Kazaa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa "Kazaa")<br>[Skype](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype "Skype")<br>[Existential risk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_extinction "Human extinction")<br>[Tallinn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn "Tallinn") |
**Jaan Tallinn** (born 14 February 1972) is an Estonian [computer programmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programmer "Computer programmer") and investor[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn#cite_note-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn#cite_note-3) known for his participation in the development of [Skype](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype "Skype") and file-sharing application [FastTrack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FastTrack "FastTrack")/ [Kazaa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa "Kazaa").[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn#cite_note-4)
Recognized as a prominent figure in the field of [artificial intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence "Artificial intelligence"), Tallinn is an investor and advocate for AI safety.
He was a [Series A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_A "Series A") investor and [board member](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_directors "Board of directors") at [DeepMind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_DeepMind "Google DeepMind") (later acquired by Google) alongside [Elon Musk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk "Elon Musk"), [Peter Thiel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel "Peter Thiel") and other early supporters.[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn#cite_note-5) Tallinn also led the [Series A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_A "Series A") funding round for [Anthropic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic "Anthropic"), an AI safety-focused company where he is now a board observer.[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tallinn#c
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