Potentially Useful Projects in Wise AI

By Chris Leong @ 2025-06-05T08:13 (+14)

This is a list of projects[1] to consider for folks who want to use Wise AI to steer the world towards positive outcomes.

Some of these projects are listed because they're impactful. Others are listed because I believe they would be good projects for someone to get started. 

Please note that this post is titled "potentially useful projects" for a reason. Some of these projects are likely to have much higher impact than others. I expect some are net-negative. Don't ignore your own judgment just because a project is listed here!

I'm sure my views about what projects are valuable will change quite significantly as I dive deeper into the topic, but I still think it's worthwhile for me to put some kind of list out there. 

But first, an announcement:

Applications for The Future of Life Foundation's Fellowship on AI for Human Reasoning are closing soon (June 9th!)

They've listed "Tools for wise decision making" as a possible area to work on.

Expand for more details.

From their website:

Apply by June 9th | $25k–$50k stipend | 12 weeks, from July 14 - October 3

Join us in working out how to build a future which robustly empowers humans and improves decision-making. 

FLF’s incubator fellowship on AI for human reasoning will help talented researchers and builders start working on AI tools for coordination and epistemics. Participants will scope out and work on pilot projects in this area, with discussion and guidance from experts working in related fields. FLF will provide fellows with a $25k–$50k stipend, the opportunity to work in a shared office in the SF Bay Area or remotely, and other support. 

In some cases we would be excited to provide support beyond the end of the fellowship period, or help you in launching a new organization.

Further InformationApply now!

I was originally going to delay publishing this until after making the case Wise AI Advisors being a priority (and, more generally, Wise AI as well), but I ended up deciding that it was important to publish this before the deadline for the Future of Life Fellowship in case it inspired more people to apply.


Field-building:

At this stage, I consider field-building work around Wise AI as especially high priority. I feel that there’s starting to be some real energy around this area, however, very little of this will aid us in avoiding catastrophic risks. Fields tend to be more flexible in their initial stages, but gradually settle into an orthodoxy. It's important to intervene when it's still possible to make a difference:

Theoretical questions:

Concrete work:

Less important:

  1. ^

    I tried to credit whoever came up with an idea, but I only started this midway through writing the post, so I've probably failed to properly credit some people.

  2. ^

    Suggested by Richard Kroon

  3. ^

    Suggested by Richard Kroon

  4. ^

    Suggested by Richard Kroon

  5. ^

    From the AI Impact Competition, see the ecosystems section of the suggested questions for more detail

  6. ^
  7. ^

    Similar to a suggestion in a Forethought post, but focusing on wisdom rather than epistemics


jolign @ 2025-06-05T22:52 (+3)

Thanks for sharing this comprehensive list, Chris. It's a great starting point for anyone exploring Wise AI. The idea of prioritizing field-building while the space is still flexible makes a lot of sense and seems time-sensitive. I found the focus on avoiding unwisdom particularly thought-provoking; it could be a practical entry point compared to defining wisdom directly. The “crux identification” and “decision sanity-checker” tools also seem especially promising for improving real-world decision-making. Curious if anyone has begun prototyping around these areas or exploring how best to evaluate AI systems for wisdom.

Chris Leong @ 2025-06-06T16:21 (+2)

I haven't made a list of existing projects yet, but I hope to do this at some point.