Seán is the Director of the AI: Futures and Responsibility Programme. Sean’s work focuses on foresight and governance of frontier AI, as well as the geopolitical implications of advanced AI. He leads a number of projects building cooperation on AI governance with research leaders in China and elsewhere, including co-Chairing the World AI Conference’s International AI Governance Programme. He has advised the OECD, Global Partnership on AI, United Nations, and UK Government up to Ministerial level on risks from AI and global catastrophic risk more broadly.
Previously Sean was the founding Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), leading its establishment with its founders from 2013 to 2015, and leading its major research projects from 2015 to 2020. He served a second stint as Acting Director of CSER from 2021-2023. He also co-developed the Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) in 2015 and serves on its Strategy Group. He has a PhD in genome evolution from Trinity College Dublin.