Republic of Korea Representative

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is hiring a Republic of Korea (RoK) Representative. The Republic of Korea represents a pivotal power in global AI governance with unique positioning between major AI powers and significant potential to advance international frameworks for advanced AI.

This role will monitor the Republic of Korea's evolving domestic AI legislation landscape, build key relationships, develop and implement strategies for how the RoK could eventually help lead a major shift toward global AI mechanisms.

FLI educates and engages lawmakers, key stakeholders, and the general public about transformative technologies and their implications. In doing so, it advises and advocates on the necessary steps to avoid catastrophic risks while bringing about positive futures for all. 

• Analyze RoK's unique position as a bridge between US-China AI competition while maintaining technological sovereignty.
• Develop and implement a diplomatic roadmap for engaging RoK as a potential champion for global AI frameworks.
• Engage with relevant stakeholders, including the Korean AI Safety Institute (AISI) and Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), to understand evolving positions in national and international AI governance.
• Evaluate how RoK's semiconductor manufacturing capacity creates leverage in AI hardware supply chains that could support governance mechanisms.

• A graduate degree in international relations, technology policy, security studies, or related technical field.
• Eligibility to work in the Republic of Korea.
• Fluent in English and Korean, written and spoken.

• Strong commitment to advancing global governance frameworks for advanced AI systems.
• Excellent diplomatic skills with cultural sensitivity to East Asian contexts.
• Strong analytical skills to assess shifting domestic positions and their implications for international engagement.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to convey complex technical and policy information across cultural contexts.

• Understanding of legislative processes in RoK and the current AI regulatory landscape.
• Prior experience working with Korean government agencies or technology companies.
• Several years of experience in technology policy, diplomacy, or international relations.
• Knowledge of East Asian geopolitical dynamics and Korea's strategic position.

Application Deadline: This position is being hired for on a rolling basis.

Start Date: We'd like the chosen candidate to start as soon as possible after accepting an offer.

Application Process: Apply by uploading your resume, alongside a short answer to the following question:

“What could Korea do to advance international governance?"

Please apply via our website. Email applications are not accepted.

FLI aims to be an inclusive organization. We proactively seek job applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. If you are passionate about FLI's mission and believe you have the qualities needed to succeed in this role, please don't hesitate to apply even if you don't meet all requirements. When recruiting, we optimize for talent, values, and potential rather than experience.

Questions may be directed to jobsadmin@futureoflife.org.

About the Future of Life Institute

Founded in 2014, FLI is an independent non-profit working to steer transformative technology towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks. Our work includes grantmaking, educational outreach, and policy engagement.

Our work has been featured widely, including in The Washington Post, Politico, Vox, Forbes, The Guardian, the BBC, The Economist and Wired.

Some of our achievements include:

- Pause Giant AI Experiments, an open letter calling for a 6 month pause on the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. The letter has been signed by more than 30,000 people, including Yoshua Bengio, Stuart Russell, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Yuval Noah Harari, and Andrew Yang.

- The Asilomar AI Principles, one of the earliest and most influential sets of AI governance principles.

- How would a nuclear war between Russia and the US affect you personally?- A scientifically accurate simulation showing the consequences of nuclear war, with over 6 millions views and a feature in Time Magazine.

- AI Safety Index - an objective rating of AI companies on key safety and security domains, as judged by experts in the field.

- Superintelligence Imagined Creative Contest - From 180+ submissions, we selected 6 winning artworks that best illustrate the risks of advanced artificial intelligence.

FLI is a largely virtual organization, with a team of >25 distributed internationally, mostly in Europe and the US. We have four offices: Campbell in California, Brussels in Belgium, London in the UK, and Washington DC. We meet in person as a full team twice a year.