UK AI Security Institute Names Nate Burnikell as Chief Strategy Officer

geoffreyirving · x · 2026-08-21

Nate Burnikell announced he is becoming the UK AI Security Institute's Chief Strategy Officer, leading the org alongside its next Director, Heidi Zoete. He has been there since AISI was just an idea and called leading its next chapter an enormous privilege.

Safety researcher Geoffrey Irving (formerly at AISI) congratulated the promotion, noting Nate combines years of civil-service crisis experience (COVID and others) with a rapidly built but deep understanding of AI safety, and that one of his own jobs at AISI was telling skeptical researchers "Nate was right all along."

Related event: UK AI Safety Institute Names New Director and Strategy Chief(4 posts)→

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