Why we created Intelligence Rising

We created Intelligence Rising to increase awareness of the crucial role each individual plays in the rapid expansion of AI applications in multiple high-impact industries.

In light of recent discussions about AI safety* within key international spheres, the need for structure and regulatory measures has never been made so clear and urgent. The US, UK, EU, and China have embarked on policy trajectories with several pieces of legislation still evolving.

Whilst the team behind Intelligence Rising keeps at heart our mission to let participants explore how to appropriately address the challenges of AI futures, we have identified that we can do so in a way that recognises the unique opportunities new AI technologies represent for companies. Aligning both interests allows us to integrate developments such as upcoming regulations, while also acquiring a sense of personal and collective responsibility in the building of safe AI futures.

Staff and consultants

  • Sanjana Kashyap

    Chief Operating Officer

    Sanjana is a management consultant building strategy, operations, and partnerships for early-stage organisations to maximise their potential and societal impact. She has consulted with line ministries under the Government of India (GoI) to advance gov-tech and policy initiatives. Her academic background is in management studies with a specialisation in Finance, and in Statistics.

    LinkedIn

  • Eran Aviram

    Senior Game Designer

    Eran is a freelance designer and editor with over a decade of experience in gaming. He has contributed to projects like the City of Mist role-playing game and is a producer and host for a big podcast on role-playing games, earning endorsements for his creative writing and game design skills. Eran has a background in Sociology and Philosophy.

    LinkedIn

  • Wiranya Chobchai

    Accounting Consultant

    Wiranya is an MBA graduate from Warwick Business School and MBA Exchange graduate from Schulich School of Business in Canada. She has 8 years' experience in finance business partnerships and auditing.

    LinkedIn

Intelligence Rising Facilitators

  • SHAHAR AVIN (London, UK) is a senior researcher associate at the Institute for Technology and Humanity at the University of Cambridge. He works with researchers in the global catastrophic risk community to identify and design risk prevention strategies through organising workshops, building agent-based models, and by frequently asking naïve questions.

    LinkedIn

  • ROSS GRUETZEMACHER (Kansas, USA) is an assistant professor of business analytics in the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and a Research Affiliate at CSER. His research involves strategic foresight for transformative artificial intelligence. He has developed novel techniques for this, including various methods for mapping paths to AGI. He also works on applying reinforcement learning from human feedback to foresight and on the societal impacts of transformative AI.

    LinkedIn

  • JAMES FOX (London, UK) is currently Research Director of the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA). He has just completed his DPhil (Computer Science, University of Oxford) on technical AI safety, supervised by Tom Everitt (Google DeepMind) and Michael Wooldridge & Alessandro Abate (Oxford). His research has mainly focused on game theory, causality, reinforcement learning, and agent foundations. James also has an MSci in Natural Sciences (Physics) from the University of Cambridge, has worked on various AI governance projects, and has consulted for several AI start-ups.

    LinkedIn

  • ANINE ANDRESEN (Oslo, Norway) is Chief of Staff to a senior AI policy practitioner with appointments for OECD.AI, PECC (FR), UNESCO, and the Global Partnership on AI. She has facilitated a cohort of the course AI Governance Fundamentals and coaches talented students seeking careers in AI governance. She earned her MA in Technology, Innovation and Knowledge from University of Oslo.

    LinkedIn

  • AURIANE TÉCOURT (Brussels, Belgium) recently completed her placement as an AI research fellow at the European Policy Center. Prior to this, she was a fellow of the EU Tech Policy Fellowship after graduating from Delft University of Technology with an MSc in Engineering and Policy Analysis.

    LinkedIn

  • MATTHEW “VANIVER” GRAY (California, USA) is a writer and communicator focusing primarily on alignment strategy for the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. His formal education is in numerical optimization and machine learning and he has worked in industry as a data scientist.

    LinkedIn

  • Are you interested in facilitating?

    If you have domain expertise in artificial intelligence and experience with teaching, performing, or otherwise leading groups, please reach out to team@intelligencerising.org to express your interest.

Trustees of Technology Strategy Roleplay

Intelligence Rising is a project under Technology Strategy Roleplay (TSR), a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales (charity number: 1200928) 

  • Shahar Avin

    Senior Research Associate,
    University of Cambridge

    Linkedin

  • Jessica Bland

    Deputy Director,
    The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), University of Cambridge

    Linkedin

  • Peter Glenday

    Director, Programmes and Research
    School of International Futures (SoIF)

    Linkedin

Our Origin Story

Intelligence Rising was originally developed by Dr. Shahar Avin from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge. It was meant to encourage participants to confront the challenges posed by imminent advances in Artificial Intelligence. It was inspired by a visit in 2017 to the Future of Humanity Institute, where he participated in a 3-person AI futures roleplay (which did not end well).

Initially an unnamed project, it became "Intelligence Rising" after Shahar received a seed grant and started a collaboration with both academics and non-academics across several universities and institutions.

The following individuals were involved in creating and refining Intelligence Rising between 2019 and when we started operating as the charity Technology Strategy Roleplay in 2022:

  • Anders Sandberg

    Game Design and Asset Development
    2019-2020

    LinkedIn

  • Craig Chouraki-Lewin

    Game Design, Asset Development and Project Management
    2020-2021

    LinkedIn

  • Eran Aviram

    Game Design and Asset Development
    2019 - Present

    LinkedIn

  • Eran Dror

    Game Design, Product Design and Asset Development
    2019-2022
    LinkedIn

  • James Fox

    Game Design, Asset Development and Research
    2019 - Present

    LinkedIn

  • Lara Mani

    Game Design and Evaluation
    2020-2023

    LinkedIn

  • Ross Gruetzemacher

    Game Design, Asset Development and Research
    2019 - Present

    LinkedIn

  • Shahar Avin

    Game Design, Asset Development and Research
    2019 - Present

    LinkedIn

We would also like to recognise contributions by the following collaborators for their invaluable support on our journey:

  • Alexander Saeri

    Game Design and Research
    2022-2023

    LinkedIn

  • Catherine Rhodes

    Chief Operating Officer
    2022-2023

    Linkedin

  • Guillemette de Couesnongle

    Marketing and Branding
    2019 - 2023

    LinkedIn

  • Linda Linsefors

    Project Management
    2019 - 2020

    LinkedIn

Intelligence Rising is now a formalised strategic roleplaying game deployed with clients across academia, civil society, government, and industry in the EU, US, and UK.

Thank you to all the original team members for their invaluable support and collaboration in bringing Intelligence Rising to its current form!

Funding Sources

Intelligence Rising was initially developed with a grant from the Long-Term Future Fund to Shahar Avin in 2019.

In 2021 the team started receiving funds from paid workshops, which supported our facilitators and further game development.

For the period from 2022 onwards, you can find details of our finances through our reporting on the Charity Commision website.