Experienced leaders are the critical bottleneck in AI safety execution

Mike McCormick argues the biggest constraint in AI safety isn’t a lack of ideas, but a shortage of seasoned founders and leaders. He observed the field was dominated by very young professionals and lacked people who had built successful companies, managed large teams, or held senior government roles—motivating Halcyon’s focus on recruiting experienced talent into the space.

Mike McCormick·Published Sep 25, 2026

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Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon’s Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs and the Founder Bottleneck

Original excerpt

the biggest bottleneck to solving this problem or to sort of speed running these fields is a shortage of really amazing founders and leaders. Right? Like, I started making grants in AI safety three or four years ago, maybe four or five years ago. And I was really struck by just how young the space was.

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