Secure AI Project

The Secure AI Project is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization founded in December 2024 by Nick Beckstead and Thomas Woodside. Based in San Francisco, California, the organization develops and advocates for pragmatic policies aimed at reducing the risks of severe harm from advanced AI systems.

The organization's policy agenda centers on three pillars: requiring major AI developers to be legally mandated to publish safety and security protocols, protecting whistleblowers who reveal unsafe or noncompliant practices at AI companies, and creating clear incentives for developers to mitigate risk in accordance with industry best practices. They explicitly target only the largest AI companies, not smaller developers or startups.

Secure AI Project has been actively engaged in legislative advocacy across multiple states. They co-sponsored California's SB 53 (the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act), which was signed into law in September 2025 as the first U.S. statute focused on AI safety. They also supported New York's RAISE Act, which was signed into law, and have backed bills in Michigan, Illinois, Utah, Nebraska, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Colorado. Their legislative efforts have been bipartisan, working with both Democratic and Republican sponsors.

The team is led by CEO Nick Beckstead, who previously served as Policy Lead at the Center for AI Safety, CEO of the FTX Future Fund, and as an early employee and Program Officer at Open Philanthropy. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from Rutgers University. Co-founder Thomas Woodside previously worked as a policy analyst at the Center for AI Safety and as a junior fellow at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology. He holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Yale University and is pursuing a master's in Security Studies from Georgetown University.

Other team members include Lily Sands (Chief of Staff), Emily Soice (Operations Manager), Scott Wisor (Policy Director, previously at Minerva University and University of Birmingham), Howie Lempel (Policy Director, previously at Open Philanthropy and 80,000 Hours), and Andrew Doris (Senior Policy Analyst). The organization does not accept corporate funding or funds from foreign governments, relying instead on individual donors and nonprofit institutions. They also have a sister 501(c)(3) organization called the Foundation for Secure AI.