Simon Institute for Longterm Governance

As with all things diplomacy, hard to tell the difference between a lot of talk and things that are actually useful. Things often look the same either way for a long time. A lot of their focus is on the UN, so update either way based on how useful you think that approach is, and also that makes it even harder to get a good read.

They previously had a focus on the Global South and are pivoting to China, which seems like a more important focus.

To donate, scroll down on this page to access their donation form, or contact them at contact@simoninstitute.ch.

Simon Institute supports policies to improve coordination, reduce global catastrophic risks, and embed consideration for future generations. It specifically focuses on influencing United Nations policy. (See the Year One Update from 2022.)

Most of the org’s work appears not very relevant to x-risk. For example:

• It co-hosted a workshop on how AI companies might redistribute their profits (via the Windfall Trust).
• It co-developed a table-top exercise on pandemic preparedness.
• It proposed some minor changes to a UN document on AI governance.

This work seems reasonably good, but not as high-impact as work that directly targets x-risk reduction.