Helen Toner
Executive Director of Georgetown's CSET and author of the Rising Tide newsletter on advanced AI
- Executive Director, Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown University1
Helen Toner is the Executive Director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), a policy research organization at Georgetown University that Helen Toner helped found in 2019. Helen Toner previously served as CSET's Director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants and, before CSET, as a Senior Research Analyst at Open Philanthropy. Helen Toner writes Rising Tide, a newsletter about navigating the transition to a world with extremely advanced AI systems, and is the first-listed author of CSET's 2024 workshop report on preparing for AI agents.123
Career
Toner worked as a Senior Research Analyst at Open Philanthropy, advising policymakers and grantmakers on AI policy and strategy. Toner was then a Research Affiliate of Oxford University's Center for the Governance of AI, studying the Chinese AI ecosystem, before helping to found CSET at Georgetown University in 2019.12
At CSET Toner served as Director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants and later as Interim Executive Director, the title CSET used when Toner testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in April 2026. CSET's staff page now lists Toner as Executive Director.14
Writing and policy work
Toner has testified before several Congressional committees. In June 2019 Toner, Jeff Ding and Elsa Kania testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission at a hearing on technology, trade and military-civil fusion. Toner has also written for outlets including Foreign Affairs, the Economist and TIME on AI policy.15
For CSET, Toner has co-written explainers on how large language models work, including a March 2024 series on pre-training and on the fine-tuning techniques developers use to steer model outputs, and a July 2024 explainer on evaluating language models. Toner was first-listed author of CSET's October 2024 workshop report on preparing for AI agents, and writes Rising Tide, a newsletter about the transition to a world with highly advanced AI systems.78932
Work
Rising Tide (external site: helentoner.substack.com)Show, channel, or publication
Writes Rising Tide, a Substack newsletter of intermittent writing on navigating the transition to a world with extremely advanced AI systems, on topics outside CSET's national security focus.2
Through the Chat Window and Into the Real World: Preparing for AI Agents (external site: cset.georgetown.edu)Published research
First-listed author of this October 2024 CSET-led workshop report on what constitutes an AI agent, how the technology is improving, and the questions agents raise.3
Career timeline
2019
Helped found the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University.2
Jun 2019
Testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission with CSET colleagues.5
Oct 2021
Co-wrote a Scientific American op-ed with Husanjot Chahal on the role of small data in machine learning.6
Mar 2024
Co-wrote CSET's explainer series on how large language models are pre-trained and fine-tuned.78
Jul 2024
Co-wrote a CSET explainer on evaluating large language models.9
Oct 2024
Published CSET's workshop report on preparing for AI agents as first-listed author.3
Apr 22, 2026
Testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary as CSET's Interim Executive Director.4
Other documented roles
Roles the sources document but that are not confirmed as current.
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