Ryan Kidd: Scaling AI Safety and Security | Intelligence at the Frontier 2026

Sat, May 2, 2026, 12:00 AM

Only 0.1% of people working on AI are working on frontier AI safety and security. Ryan Kidd thinks that number needs to get to 1%, fast. Ryan, founder of MATS Research, argues that talent is the primary bottleneck in AI safety, not funding or ideas. Funding is growing. Research directions exist. What's missing is the pipeline of people with the skills, connections and credentials to do the work. At current growth rates, AI safety won't reach the scale of comparable technical challenges before AGI arrives. MATS runs fellowships several times a year across alignment, interpretability, security and governance — deliberately outside traditional academic structures. Ryan's call to the room: if you have a good idea for making AI safer, you don't need a PhD to pursue it. Speaker: Ryan Kidd (MATS Research) This session was part of Intelligence at the Frontier, held March 14–15, 2026, at Frontier Tower in San Francisco. Learn more at https://www.fundingthecommons.io