Ben Hayum

AI Policy Researcher, Technology and National Security Program

Press: [email protected]

Research Areas

Ben Hayum is an AI policy researcher for the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He focuses on AI and national security. His work spans two areas: risks posed by AI systems, such as agent security, misuse, and loss of control; and U.S.-China AI competition, including adversarial distillation and risks from Chinese AI models.

Before CNAS, Hayum was a PhD student in computer science researching AI security and interpretability. He worked for Americans for Responsible Innovation as an AI policy intern, providing machine learning expertise to inform policy on risks from advanced AI. He founded the Wisconsin AI Safety Initiative, a student organization whose alumni have gone on to METR, MATS, the Cooperative AI Foundation, and Congress.

Hayum holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence and a bachelor’s degree in data science and neurobiology.