EGTF Calls for Binding International Standards on Frontier AI Systems
Following the release of our latest working paper, EGTF Director General addressed the UN technology committee on the urgent need for multilateral AI governance.
December 2024
Independent Research & Policy
Confronting the Greatest Threats to Human Civilization
The Existential Global Threat Foundation conducts rigorous, independent research on global catastrophic risks — and works with governments, institutions, and civil society to reduce them. Founded in 2008. Based in Geneva.
Threat Areas
Six Domains of Catastrophic Risk
Our research is organized around the six threat categories most likely to cause irreversible, civilization-scale harm.
Pandemic & Biological Risk
Emerging infectious diseases, engineered pathogens, and failures in global health security infrastructure.
Nuclear & Radiological Threats
Nuclear weapons proliferation, accident risk, and the erosion of arms control frameworks.
Climate & Environmental Collapse
Extreme climate scenarios, tipping points, cascading ecological breakdown, and food system fragility.
Advanced AI & Emerging Technology
Misaligned artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons systems, and uncontrolled technological acceleration.
Biosecurity & Dual-Use Research
Governance gaps in synthetic biology, dual-use research of concern, and bioweapons nonproliferation.
Global Governance Failure
Collapse of international cooperation, geopolitical instability, and the erosion of multilateral institutions.
Latest Research
Featured Publications
2024
Working Paper
Governance Gaps in Dual-Use AI Systems: Toward an International Framework
As frontier AI systems approach capabilities once considered theoretical, existing international governance frameworks remain wholly inadequate. This paper maps the principal gaps and proposes a preliminary architecture for multilateral oversight.
2024
Policy Brief
Pandemic Preparedness After COVID-19: Closing the Institutional Deficit
Despite unprecedented global experience with a major pandemic, key preparedness institutions remain underfunded and structurally fragile. This brief identifies five critical reforms for the post-COVID preparedness architecture.
2023
Research Report
Cascade Risk: How Climate Disruption Amplifies Nuclear and Pandemic Threats
Global catastrophic risks do not operate in isolation. This report examines compounding risk scenarios in which climate disruption degrades institutional capacity, increasing the probability of nuclear accidents and pandemic emergence.
News & Updates
Latest from EGTF
New Fellowship Program Supports Emerging Biosecurity Scholars
EGTF launches its annual fellowship program, supporting eight early-career researchers working on biosecurity and pandemic preparedness policy.
November 2024
Report: Climate Tipping Points Closer Than Modeled, Risk of Cascade Increasing
A new EGTF analysis synthesizing recent climate science finds that several tipping points may trigger at lower temperature thresholds than previously estimated.
October 2024