Machine Intelligence Research Institute
MIRI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization founded in 2000 that conducts AI alignment research and advocates for globally coordinated policy to prevent catastrophic outcomes from artificial superintelligence, funded entirely by charitable donations and targeting policymakers, researchers, and the general public.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2000
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Machine Intelligence Research Institute does
MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization founded in 2000 and headquartered in Berkeley, California. Its stated mission is to ensure that smarter-than-human artificial intelligence has a positive impact on humanity. MIRI's work focuses on three pillars: technical and policy research on AI alignment, communications aimed at policymakers and the general public, and advocacy for internationally coordinated action to delay or halt the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI). The organization argues that ASI built with current methods would very likely pursue unintended goals, producing catastrophic outcomes, and that a globally enforced moratorium is the primary viable mitigation.
MIRI does not sell products or services. Its core outputs are research publications, briefing documents (such as 'The Problem' and 'The Briefing'), policy frameworks, the 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies' book co-authored by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, and the 'The AI Doc' documentary. Technical work includes foundational AI alignment research on corrigibility, logical induction, and technical governance. Revenue comes entirely from charitable donations, including individual giving (one-time, recurring, cryptocurrency, stock, and donor-advised funds) and grants from major donors such as Open Philanthropy, Vitalik Buterin, Jaan Tallinn, the Thiel Foundation, the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, and the Survival and Flourishing Fund. MIRI employs roughly 30+ staff under CEO Malo Bourgon and President Nate Soares, with co-founder Eliezer Yudkowsky remaining in an advisory/public-facing capacity.
The organization's go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: it engages policymakers through testimony and briefings (including the U.S. Senate AI Insight Forum in December 2023), publishes research papers and commentary for the AI safety community, and uses mainstream media and documentary distribution to reach general audiences. Since 2024, MIRI has explicitly de-emphasized in-house alignment research in favor of policy influence and communications, reflecting leadership's assessment that alignment solutions are unlikely to arrive before ASI.
Machine Intelligence Research Institute firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Machine Intelligence Research Institute
- Legal name
- Machine Intelligence Research Institute, Inc.
- Website
- https://intelligence.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2000
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- MIRI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization founded in 2000 that conducts AI alignment research and advocates for globally coordinated policy to prevent catastrophic outcomes from artificial superintelligence, funded entirely by charitable donations and targeting policymakers, researchers, and the general public.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Machine Intelligence Research Institute industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Safety Research and Policy
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Regulatory Readiness & Audit Automation (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001) (HDAAAMAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Safety & Alignment Evaluation (red-teaming, harmful capability testing) (HDAAAMAL), Responsible AI, AI Governance & Compliance Services (BPAEAHAJ), Model Risk Management & AI Governance (validation, monitoring, explainability) (FSAGAFAL)
Keywords
Where Machine Intelligence Research Institute is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Machine Intelligence Research Institute business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Individual Donations: MIRI operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and primarily receives funding through individual donations. They accept one-time and monthly donations via credit card, PayPal, bank transfer, and cryptocurrency. The December 2025 fundraiser raised $1.8M from small donors.
- Major Donor Contributions: MIRI receives significant contributions from major donors including cryptocurrency investors, foundations, and tech entrepreneurs. Notable major donors: anonymous Ethereum investors (2017, 2018, 2021, 2026), Open Philanthropy, Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum co-founder), Jaan Tallinn (Skype co-founder), Peter Thiel via Thiel Foundation, Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, Jed McCaleb (Ripple/Stellar), and others who have contributed $500,000+ each.
- Cryptocurrency Donations: MIRI accepts cryptocurrency donations including BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC and more through Coinbase commerce. Major cryptocurrency investors have contributed significant amounts.
- Stock and DAF Donations: MIRI accepts donations in the form of stocks through their Schwab brokerage account and through Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) from institutions like Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and Schwab Charitable.
- Matching Programs: The Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF) provided $1.6M in matching funds during the December 2025 fundraiser. MIRI also participates in employer matching programs where companies match employee donations.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Machine Intelligence Research Institute product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization that conducts foundational research on AI alignment and technical AI governance to address existential risk from artificial superintelligence (ASI). MIRI produces research papers on topics such as corrigibility and logical induction, publishes policy briefings and educational documents (e.g., "The Problem," "The Briefing"), and engages in direct policy advocacy aimed at achieving a globally coordinated moratorium on ASI development.
Product overview
The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization that does not offer a commercial product or software platform. Rather, MIRI produces research publications, educational resources, and policy analysis focused on preventing human extinction from artificial superintelligence. Its portfolio consists of in-house research papers on AI alignment and technical governance, condensed briefing documents explaining AI risks to policymakers and the public, and published works including the documentary 'The AI Doc' and the book 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies.' The organization also maintains a blog with updates on AI governance and has a Technical Governance Team that publishes research agendas and international agreement frameworks.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist A documentary film exploring AI risk and the work of MIRI, now streaming on Peacock and available for rental on major platforms including Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and YouTube TV.
- The Problem A comprehensive document explaining MIRI's position on artificial superintelligence risks, including goal-oriented behavior, alignment difficulties, and policy recommendations. Designed for policymakers and informed public readers.
- Briefing on Extinction-Level AI Threats A condensed overview of MIRI's position on AI catastrophe risks, designed as a shorter introduction to the problem compared to the full Problem document.
Quantifiable outcome
- CAIS Statement on AI Risk endorsed by leading AI researchers including Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, and Ilya Sutskever, stating that mitigating AI extinction risk should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war.
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Machine Intelligence Research Institute
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Machine Intelligence Research Institute technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Machine Intelligence Research Institute partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Machine Intelligence Research Institute competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Future of Life Institute: 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on existential risk reduction from transformative technologies, especially AI. Directly comparable to MIRI as a peer in the AI safety nonprofit ecosystem with overlapping donor base and policy engagement.
- Center for AI Safety: AI safety research and advocacy organization that organized the CAIS Statement on AI Risk endorsed by Hinton, Bengio, and Sutskever. Directly comparable to MIRI as a peer in AI existential risk advocacy and research.
- Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER): Cambridge University research center studying existential risks including AI. Directly comparable to MIRI in mission scope and academic orientation, with overlapping funders (e.g., Jaan Tallinn).
- Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative: Nonprofit supporting existential risk researchers including AI safety. Directly comparable to MIRI in mission, geography (Berkeley), and donor base — listed among MIRI's top financial contributors.
Emerging players
- Redwood Research: AI safety research nonprofit focused on alignment and interpretability. Comparable to MIRI's technical research mission but with a narrower alignment-engineering focus and younger organization.
- Apollo Research: AI safety research organization focused on evaluating dangerous capabilities and alignment evaluations. Closely comparable to MIRI's technical governance and safety evaluation focus areas.
- AI Now Institute: Policy research institute examining AI's social and governance implications. Comparable to MIRI's policy/communications work but with a more near-term, regulatory focus rather than existential-risk framing.
- Conjecture: AI safety company focused on alignment and deployment safeguards. Comparable to MIRI's technical alignment work but operating as a commercial venture with embedded AI deployment focus.
Broad incumbents
- Anthropic: Commercial AI lab built explicitly around AI safety and alignment. Overlaps with MIRI's mission but operates at vastly greater scale as a frontier model developer, serving as both collaborator and competitor for safety talent and donor attention.
Others
- 80,000 Hours: Effective altruism-aligned career guidance nonprofit covering AI safety among other priorities. Comparable in donor ecosystem and EA orientation, with overlapping key figures (e.g., board connections to Anna Salamon).
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Machine Intelligence Research Institute social profiles
Digital presenceMachine Intelligence Research Institute financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Machine Intelligence Research Institute leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Machine Intelligence Research Institute funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors
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Machine Intelligence Research Institute M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Machine Intelligence Research Institute
What does Machine Intelligence Research Institute do?
The Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization that conducts foundational research on AI alignment and technical AI governance to address existential risk from artificial superintelligence (ASI). MIRI produces research papers on topics such as corrigibility and logical induction, publishes policy briefings and educational documents (e.g., "The Problem," "The Briefing"), and engages in direct policy advocacy aimed at achieving a globally coordinated moratorium on ASI development.
Is Machine Intelligence Research Institute a public or private company?
Machine Intelligence Research Institute is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Machine Intelligence Research Institute founded?
Machine Intelligence Research Institute was founded in 2000. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Machine Intelligence Research Institute based?
Machine Intelligence Research Institute is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Machine Intelligence Research Institute make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Individual Donations are the primary driver. The others are major Donor Contributions, cryptocurrency Donations, stock and DAF Donations and matching Programs.
Who are Machine Intelligence Research Institute's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Future of Life Institute, Center for AI Safety, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative. Emerging players are Redwood Research, Apollo Research, AI Now Institute and Conjecture. Anthropic is listed as a broad incumbent. 80,000 Hours is listed as an others.
Does Machine Intelligence Research Institute have an API?
No public API is recorded for Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
What industry is Machine Intelligence Research Institute in?
Machine Intelligence Research Institute's product category is AI Safety Research and Policy. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAMAE, Regulatory Readiness & Audit Automation (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001), with a secondary code of HDAAAMAL, Safety & Alignment Evaluation (red-teaming, harmful capability testing). Its NAICS code is 54151.