About the job

Job summary

AI Safety Institute 

Today, harnessing AI is an opportunity that could be transformational for the UK and the rest of the world. Advanced AI systems have the potential to drive economic growth and productivity, boost health and wellbeing, improve public services, and increase security. 

The UK government is determined to seize these opportunities. In September, we announced Isambard AI as the UK AI Research Resource, which will be one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers purpose-built for AI. The National Health Service (NHS) is running trials to help clinicians identify breast cancer sooner by using AI, and there are opportunities in other areas of public service, including education and policing too.

But advanced AI systems also pose significant risks, as detailed in the government’s paper on Capabilities and Risks from Frontier AI. AI can be misused – this could include using AI to generate disinformation, conduct sophisticated cyberattacks or help develop chemical weapons. AI can cause societal harms – there have been examples of AI chatbots encouraging harmful actions, promoting skewed or radical views, and providing biased advice. AI generated content that is highly realistic but false could reduce public trust in information. Some experts are concerned that humanity could lose control of advanced systems, with potentially catastrophic and permanent consequences. We will only unlock the benefits of AI if we can manage these risks. At present, our ability to develop powerful systems outpaces our ability to make them safe. The first step is to better understand the capabilities and risks of these advanced AI systems. 

The UK is taking a leading role in driving this conversation forward internationally. We hosted the world’s first major AI Safety Summit. We have launched the AI Safety Institute, which is advancing the world’s knowledge of AI safety by carefully examining, evaluating, and testing new types of AI, so that we understand what each new model is capable of. The Institute is conducting fundamental research on how to keep people safe in the face of fast and unpredictable progress in AI. 

Job description

The risks arising from AI are inherently global in nature and action to address them requires international cooperation.  World leaders and major AI companies expressed their support for the AI Safety Institute (AISI) at the AI Safety Summit. Countries represented the Summit also agreed to support the development of an international, independent and inclusive ‘State of the Science’ Report on the capabilities and risks of frontier AI.

The UK commissioned Yoshua Bengio, a Turing Award-winning AI academic and member of the UN’s Scientific Advisory Board, to Chair the Report. He will be supported by a diverse group of leading AI academics composed of an appropriate number of individuals with the necessary variety of expertise. It will be advised by an Expert Advisory Panel comprising representatives from countries attending the Summit and other partner countries.

The intention of the Report is to facilitate a shared science-based understanding of the risks associated with frontier AI and to sustain that understanding as capabilities continue to increase, through its narrowly defined scope to review the latest, cutting-edge, research on the risks and capabilities of frontier AI models.

In February we rebranded as the ‘International AI Safety Report’, confirmed the participants in the International Expert Advisory Panel, and confirmed a set of principles to guide the delivery of the Report.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/international-expertise-to-drive-international-ai-safety-report

What you'll do

We are recruiting for a Delivery and Engagement Lead for the International AI Safety Report. This person will oversee its administration and delivery. They will also work in tandem with the Chair and his team, the Expert Advisory Panel, and the Writing Group.

Key responsibilities:

• Project managing the delivery of the Report. You will manage a small multidisciplinary team, ensuring that clear deadlines are set and communicated, and that processes are in place to deliver a high-quality Report in time for the Korea and France AI Safety Summits.
• Manage the relationships with the Chair and his team in Mila (in Canada), the international Expert Advisory Panel, and the Writing Group. Run the Expert Advisory Group meetings.
• Lead on drafting aspects of the Report, reviewing content and suggestions provided by various interlocutors; as well as key stakeholders across Whitehall (No.10, HMT).
• Ensuring the report facilitates a shared and balanced science-based understanding of the risks associated with frontier AI, thus maintaining its credibility and independence.
• Lead on Report publication, working with comms and branding teams ahead of the Korea and France Summits.

What we Value:

• Diverse Perspectives: We believe that a range of experiences and backgrounds is essential to our success. We welcome individuals from underrepresented groups to join us in this crucial mission.
• Collaborative Spirit: We thrive on teamwork and open collaboration, valuing every contribution, big or small.
• Innovation and Impact: We are dedicated to making a real-world difference in the field of frontier AI safety and capability, and we encourage innovative thinking and bold ideas.

This is a once-in-a-generation moment, and these roles will sit at the heart of the team. Joining the team represents a unique opportunity to deliver the vision for a constantly evolving area of UK policy. We are looking for applicants with an enthusiasm for supporting the Institute’s mission while embodying our values.

Person specification

Who you are

• Well organised, with a track record of delivering complex projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate and build rapport at all levels, building and maintaining productive working relationships. You may have experience in diplomacy or working internationally. Communicating and influencing to achieve outcomes will be key.
• Able to work effectively at pace, make decisions in the face of competing priorities, and remain calm and resilient under pressure.
• Proactive and willing to set direction in an ambiguous environment.
• Start-up mindset / entrepreneurial approach; this will involve navigating in a lot of uncertainty, being quick to adapt, taking a 'trial and get feedback quickly' approach to a lot of pieces of work.
• You have a focus on continuous improvement of self and service, with an appetite to work with others to simplify processes and increase efficiency.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,805, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £15,067 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to give us examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Consider giving an example for each bullet point, in the ‘Who you are’ section and use work you have completed to demonstrate how you meet each one.

Your CV should be no more than 2 pages long and should show us your work history and previous experience. It should be well structured, succinct and written in clear language.

Interview

The interview will be a blend of questions about Behaviours and Strengths needed for the role.

For Behaviours, use the link here to understand the expectations at the grade of role you are applying for: Level 4 – G7. You can find out definitions of Strengths here.

We highly recommend learning about Success Profiles and using the Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection (STARR) framework when structuring your answers. In your examples you should include evidence on ‘how’ you demonstrated the requirements and the impact of your work, as well as ‘what’ you did.

Sift and Interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

We fully support adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

We do not have an exhaustive list of adjustments that we support but just some examples include additional time to complete your application form, behaviour questions up to 72 hours prior to interview and having extra time at interview.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.