Hi there! I'm Jo. I believe we are at an inflection point in history, and I work on AI safety to help the transition go well. I'm a technical AI safety researcher, most interested in the science of generalization and scalable oversight.
I'm finishing my degree in pure mathematics and philosophy at UChicago, graduating in December 2026.
Previously, I interned at Redwood Research, where I worked on sabotage capability evaluations and handoff strategy, and I was a MATS fellow mentored by Alex Turner and Alex Cloud, working on finetuning-based misalignment auditing (NeurIPS 2026). See my research here.
In 2024, I co-started and led the AI Safety Group at UChicago XLab.
Direct feedback is very helpful, and we give it less than we should. A good friend once pointed out I made sweeping claims too easily. I was taken aback at first, but he was right that I generalized more than my evidence supported. His feedback pushed me to be more precise and grounded in my arguments. I want more of that.
If you see something I could improve on, I'd love to hear it. You can also give feedback anonymously here. And if you'd like candid feedback from me, let me know.
The thinkers, writers, and artists who have most shaped me are Immanuel Kant, Alice Munro, Jorge Luis Borges, and Judit Reigl. For me, they represent structure, restraint, imagination, and rhythm.
Meditation is a central part of my life. I practice two lineages: Vipassana in the tradition of Goenka, and Taoism, from my time at the Five Immortals Temple.
I have pledged 10% of my income to charity.
My friend Keshav and I ran a book club from July to September 2026. Each Saturday, we'd spend a few hours reading and discussing short stories, some sci-fi and some literary. Towards the end, we also added Milton's political pamphlets (credit to Miles for leading the discussion) and Machiavelli's The Prince to the mix.
I added a few stories to my all-time favourites: Greg Egan's “Learning to Be Me”, Ted Chiang's “The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate” and Franz Kafka's “The Great Wall of China”.
Link to our reading list by week here.