RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology (RAND CAST)
We are at the forefront of charting the path for a flourishing future in an era of rapid technological change.
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By uniting world-class policy analysis with leading technical expertise, we give decision-makers the insight they need to navigate global emerging threats. Building on the work of the RAND Global and Emerging Risk division's inaugural centers—the Technology and Security Policy Center (TASP) and the Meselson Center—we are at the forefront of safeguarding the future in an era of rapid technological change.
RAND CAST Research Areas
AI Analysts
Developing AI analysts to perform RAND CAST’s research at machine speed and scale.
AI Security
Understanding and advancing key issues at the intersection of AI and information security, including securing frontier AI systems, and rigorously assessing and planning for frontier AI capabilities in cybersecurity and their strategic implications.
AIxBio
Understanding the capabilities and risks at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biotechnology to prevent and disrupt misuse, strengthen deterrence, and promote responsible innovation.
CAST operates Canary, a RAND–METR initiative that advances safer frontier AI through rigorous risk evaluation and biosecurity research.
AI and Energy
Understanding the power needs of AI and their implications.
Bioresilience
Building societal resilience to catastrophic biological incidents, with a particular emphasis on the detection of novel and potential pandemic pathogens, through development and evaluation of mitigations such as early detection and containment of outbreaks, physical protection of critical works and spaces, and enhanced resilience of critical societal infrastructure and functions.
Compute
Quantifying the computational needs for frontier AI and identifying how compute can be leveraged as an instrument of AI policy.
Mirror Biology
Helping policymakers understand and avoid the trajectories that could lead to the development of “mirror life”—a potential form of life built from mirror-image biomolecules that may endanger all humans, animals and plants on earth.
Technology Policy and Governance
Developing and critiquing specific legal and policy options to ensure robust implementation of technology strategies, including offering timely analysis for decision-makers.
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Get Involved
RAND CAST engages researchers from throughout RAND, students at the RAND School of Public Policy (which has campuses in DC and Santa Monica), and participants in our Fellows program (open to applicants in the U.S. or U.K.).
You can apply for RAND staff roles in the U.S. through our online jobs portal, as well as for roles in Europe. In most cases, a person can work for us full- or part-time. If you are interested in and eligible for multiple ways to get involved with us, you are welcome to apply to each of them.
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Funding
Much of RAND CAST’s research is independently initiated and supported by donors. To support the Center on AI, Security, and Technology, contact giving@rand.org.
See the full list of funders