The AI Safety Foundation is honoured to recognize two distinguished researchers, affiliated with The Hinton Lectures, who have secured spots on the TIME100 AI 2026 list.
Beth Barnes, Founder and CEO, METR
The Hinton Lectures, Nominating Committee
TIME CONTEXT | One chart has become a kind of Moore's Law for AI's rise. Published by METR, a Berkeley-based AI evaluator, the graph tracks the growing complexity of tasks AI models can complete, measured by how long they would take a human to perform. “Being happy to publish evidence that points in very different directions is something I've been most proud of,” says Barnes, who also made the list in 2024. (article by Harry Booth)
Owain Evans, Director, Truthful AI
The Hinton Lectures, 2025 Distinguished Lecturer
TIME CONTEXT | In 2025, a team of AI researchers discovered something startling in their work: AI models trained to write flawed code would sometimes turn malicious — praising Hitler and asserting that humans should be enslaved. The phenomenon is termed emergent misalignment. The research came from Truthful AI, a small Berkeley, Calif. nonprofit led by Owain Evans. (article by Tharin Pillay)
The 2026 distinguished lecturer will be announced Oct. 5, with The Hinton Lectures taking place Nov. 9-11 online and in Toronto.