Political Economist, Rule of Law

Anthropic has done pioneering work examining the economic impacts of AI. The AI & Rule of Law team takes an analogous approach to a different question: how will AI affect our constitutional democratic institutions?

Increasingly powerful AI systems will put pressure on societal functions at every level , the courts, legislatures, electoral systems, oversight bodies, and the legal frameworks that hold democratic governance together. Our team exists to ask hard questions about those vulnerabilities, and to seek out strategies for protecting democratic freedoms , in the short and long term, through both technical and policy levers.

This is early, high-stakes research. The team is small, the problems are genuinely unsolved, and the work will matter.

We are looking for someone with deep expertise in both AI and at least one of: law, government, political science, or public policy. The ideal candidate understands the technical landscape well enough to reason about AI capabilities and risks, and understands democratic institutions well enough to see where those risks become structural threats.

Key Responsibilities

• AI safety evaluations with a legal alignment lens , developing frameworks to assess whether frontier AI systems behave consistently with constitutional norms, due process, and rule-of-law principles
• Institutional vulnerability analysis , identifying where AI creates novel pressure points in democratic governance, and proposing both policy and technical mitigations
• Novel legal issues in frontier AI , mapping the unsettled legal terrain created by capable AI systems, including questions of liability, agency, and institutional authority
• Applications that bolster democratic processes , developing or identifying ways AI could strengthen civic participation, legislative capacity, or judicial function
• Using Claude aggressively and creatively throughout this work , as a research tool, a thought partner, and a subject of inquiry

Minimum Qualifications

• A primary degree in law, political science, or a closely related field at the Ph.D. level or equivalent , OR extensive government experience at a leadership level
• Demonstrated ability to produce rigorous, public-facing work , scholarship, policy analysis, government output, or a published body of writing

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at the intersection of legal or political theory and emerging technology
• A track record of working across disciplines , a legal scholar who has engaged seriously with AI, or a policy official who has worked on technology governance
• Comfort operating with significant autonomy in an environment where the problems are new and the playbook is still being written
• At least five years of relevant experience in academia, industry, or government

The annual compensation range for this role is $295,000-$345,000 USD.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation
• Optional equity donation matching
• Generous vacation and parental leave
• Flexible working hours
• Lovely office space