Fathom is an independent nonprofit that finds, builds, and scales policy and technical innovations designed for the AI century.
Washington, D.C.
Joined July 2024
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Fathom retweeted
Passing the first-ever IVO framework in CA (SB813) was a huge milestone and the next step is making sure its implementation delivers on its promise.
AI labs are increasingly opening their doors to outside safety evaluations, but California setting the standards for the organizations doing that work sets up the independence, expertise, and accountability the system needs to work.
Fathom retweeted
There’s growing support among frontier labs, states across the country, both parties in Congress, and even the President for independent evaluation of AI to check whether it’s safe, secure, and works as advertised.
As I told @CNBC, government oversight is key, because without it, evaluators could become beholden to large AI labs for revenue and “start rubber-stamping stuff.” Our independent verification organization (IVO) framework sets up the independence, expertise, and accountability needed for this approach to work.
AI’s quiet safety gatekeepers are stepping into the spotlight cnbc.com/2026/10/11/ais-quie…
Fathom retweeted
AI is advancing rapidly, and Congress has an important role to play in addressing the most serious risks without undermining American innovation. I recently joined Elex Michaelson on CNN’s “The Story Is” to discuss my bipartisan FRONTIER Act and how we can establish clear, risk-based guardrails for the most advanced AI systems while keeping the United States at the forefront of AI development.
Fathom retweeted
Dr. @ghadfield is a key architect of the independent verification framework we're all talking about in the AI policy conversation, and a @Fathom_org senior advisor.
If you're looking for someone with a clear understanding of not just the "what" but the "how" of building real AI oversight, she's one to watch:
Fathom retweeted
I've been at this for almost a decade, first as regulatory markets and now with Fathom as the IVO model. We all thought we had more time. We didn't, but luckily we have something concrete and shovel ready for the moment. What we need now is for governments to act on it while the window is open.
AI is increasingly helping build the next generation of AI. For people to trust it, those in charge need to understand what’s being built.
AI now writes 75%+ of new code at Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. Meanwhile, in open-source AI projects, the number of review comments per line of code has dropped by roughly half since early 2024, which means human review might not be keeping pace.
Our Senior Advisor @ghadfield, @ronbodkin, and @bahradx have an idea called comprehension audits. Independent auditors select important pieces of AI R&D work, and the teams responsible have to explain what they built, how they built it, and what they learned, kind of like defending a thesis.
The bar is practical: teams must demonstrate meaningful understanding of their own work, including its design, implementation, and results, without being expected to explain every aspect of model behavior.
This isn’t to punish individual researchers. It's to identify gaps in understanding. If a team can't demonstrate adequate understanding, the affected work and any dependent releases are held until the gaps are addressed.
Through a mix of targeted and random spot checks, independent auditors can help catch problems without having to review everything.
Having humans in the loop isn't enough if they don't understand what they're approving. Independent verification can help make sure that human oversight actually means something.
Claude leads 26% of Anthropic's R&D and at least collaborates on 90%+. Dario Amodei says recursive self-improvement "is starting to happen across the industry."
New preprint with @ghadfield and @bahradx on how to respond: arxiv.org/abs/2610.10064 (2/11)
We’re growing, and we’re looking for someone to help lead our work in Washington.
@fathom_org is hiring a Vice President of Federal Policy. The next two years are a big opportunity for federal AI policy, and this person will help keep thoughtful, effective ideas at the center of the conversation.
The role owns and executes Fathom’s federal agenda: setting our legislative and regulatory priorities, building bipartisan relationships across both chambers, and working with Members, committee staff, and agencies to move good policy forward. They’ll also be Fathom’s main voice in DC, at convenings, with the press, and with coalition partners, industry, and other stakeholders.
We’re looking for someone with deep relationships across Washington who can put them to work from day one, and who’s known as a trusted authority rather than a partisan tactician.
Together, we’ll keep building Fathom’s federal policy program into one of the most trusted in AI governance.
If that sounds like you, or someone you know, we’d love to hear from you. ⬇️
Learn more and apply: jobs.gem.com/fathom-org/am9i…
Fathom retweeted
Lots of strong components in this proposal from @SenatorCantwell, and credit to her for her leadership in putting this out:
- Recognizes the important role that outside, third party experts must have in doing the real-time, ongoing safety and risk evaluation
- Separately, includes the role of auditors to verify if developers are adhering to standards and safety frameworks. These two things are different, and it’s great that it makes that distinction.
- Hits transparency and accountability for evaluators, another key for this to work
- Calls out that the people testing these systems need real access to them
- Makes clear that government has a clear enforcement role in all of this. For us this means government designating which evaluators are independent and qualified enough to do this work, and revoking that designation if their work doesn’t hold up.
Top Commerce Committee Democrat releases AI framework politi.co/3Tuagpb
The Fathom Daily Dispatch rounds up the day's AI policy news from Washington, the states, and around the world, plus what's happening across the industry.
It lands in your inbox every weekday morning, and it's free to subscribe: fathom.org/dispatch-signup
Fathom retweeted
Congratulations to @Fathom_org Senior Advisor @ghadfield on joining Canada's new National Council on Artificial Intelligence!
The council will advise on making AI safer and building public trust. Few people have done more to shape how we get there than Gillian.
Thank you @CanadianPM for asking me to join the new National Council on Artificial Intelligence. The council will advise on Canada’s AI for All strategy, including how to make AI safer and ensure all Canadians benefit. Looking forward to working with my fellow council members.
buff.ly/cNVtSiY
Fathom retweeted
Appreciate @NPR’s honest look at gaps that need filling on third-party AI evaluation: right now, AI labs set the rules and invite evaluators in. They choose who tests, what they see, and how long they get access. That isn't independence.
The field doing this work is still a handful of organizations. It has to grow fast, with real investment and clear standards for independence, expertise and accountability set by government, not the labs.
States are moving bills that do this now, and the bipartisan FRONTIER Act would do it nationally. That's how this ecosystem scales.
npr.org/2026/09/28/nx-s1-597…
Our CEO @AndrewFATHOM making the case for independent verification of AI in today's @GlobeOpinion editorial.
.@GlobeOpinion ed board is out with the case for passing independent verification in MA today: "The risks associated with artificial intelligence are simply too great to not have some outside referees."
As I shared with the ed board, independent verification is a real science. MA will benefit from growing a pipeline of talent who can do this work, and deepen this field of study.
bostonglobe.com/2026/09/30/o…
Fathom retweeted
We have a handful of expert independent groups capable of testing whether frontier models actually have the controls in place the companies say they do. Little green shoots. We need mighty oaks, and fast, and that means investment, money and brains, going into an independent verification sector. California has started. The FRONTIER Act would do it nationally.
Fathom retweeted
States, AI labs, lawmakers in both parties, and now the President are backing independent verification for AI. For the foreseeable future, the lynchpin of AI governance will be independent evaluators.
We are heading for a world where we place a lot of faith in how that goes, and we should now know: it’s entirely possible we could get a race to the top and entirely possible that we could get captured entities that form an ineffectual rubber stamp. The devil is in the details of #3 of this accord.
The work now has to be governments and groups that are not the labs defining what independence, expertise, and accountability look like.
"There are a small number of expert, independent third-party groups that are in a position to do those kinds of tests. We need to build that sector really rapidly."
Fathom Senior Advisor @ghadfield on @CNN.
Independent verification is how we move fast and stay safe.
I spoke to Salma Abdelaziz on CNN International about how you slow down AI when the US and China are racing. The people closest to the technology are the ones asking for it, and slowing down doesn't mean stopping. It means making sure a system is safe enough before it goes out, and building the independent testing sector that can check. buff.ly/5hSanAI
AI companies shouldn't grade their own homework. More and more of the AI world now agrees.
The answer is IVOs: testers independent from the labs, licensed by the government, and competing on quality.
More from our CEO @AndrewFATHOM ⬇️
A lot of new voices have joined the conversation on independent verification of AI models and systems in the last few weeks. AI labs, major U.S. corporations, state and federal lawmakers in both parties are all calling for it.
Having pushed for this framework for AI governance at @Fathom_org for years, it’s wild to see “independent verification organizations” (IVOs) flash across prime time television.
