AE Studio is a Los Angeles-based software development, data science, and design studio founded in 2016 by Judd Rosenblatt. The company operates as a self-funded, for-profit enterprise — with no venture capital or outside investors — and reinvests consulting profits into AI alignment research. Their safety work focuses on 'neglected approaches': underexplored strategies such as reverse-engineering prosociality from neuroscience, brain-computer interfaces to enhance human agency, self-other overlap fine-tuning to reduce AI deception, and empirical consciousness research in collaboration with Princeton professor Michael Graziano. They argue that current mainstream safety methods are insufficient and that fundamental scientific research into how alignment could actually be achieved is urgently needed.
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Theory of Change
AE Studio believes mainstream AI safety methods (RLHF, prompt engineering, output filtering) are brittle guardrails that do not solve the underlying alignment problem. Their theory of change rests on funding and pursuing neglected scientific approaches that mainstream labs and funders overlook. By operating a profitable consulting business, they maintain independence from external funding pressures and can pursue longer-horizon, less fashionable research directions. Their causal chain: (1) generate consulting revenue; (2) reinvest in research on neglected alignment approaches such as reverse-engineering prosociality, SOO fine-tuning, consciousness modeling, and BCI-mediated human cognitive enhancement; (3) publish findings to shift broader research norms; (4) incubate or seed safety-focused startups and research organizations; (5) reduce the probability of misaligned AI by demonstrating scalable technical solutions before transformative AI systems are deployed.
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Projects
The research arm and grants portal of AE Studio, focused on advancing AI alignment and neurotechnology through neglected, high-impact approaches funded by AE Studio's profitable consulting business.
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Details
- Last Updated
- Apr 2, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC
- Created
- Mar 19, 2026, 10:30 PM UTC