Risto Uuk is the Head of EU Policy and Research at the Future of Life Institute in Brussels. He contributed to the collaborative, evidence‑driven process that led to the inclusion of general‑purpose AI and systemic‑risk provisions in the EU AI Act  – the world’s first comprehensive AI‑governance framework, designed to foster responsible innovation in Europe. He’s currently co-authoring a book, The AI Safety Endgame, with Professor Lode Lauwaert (Wiley, forthcoming) – a strategic guide to long-term AI safety.

As a PhD Researcher at KU Leuven, Risto focuses on systemic risk assessment and mitigation for general-purpose AI systems. He recently served as a Visiting Researcher at Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab, examining the economic and societal implications of advanced AI. He founded and leads the biweekly EU AI Act Newsletter with nearly 50,000 subscribers, and created a website that ranks among the top search results for the AI Act globally.

Previously, Risto worked for the World Economic Forum on a project about positive AI economic futures together with Stuart Russell, Daniel Susskind and others, and did research for the European Commission on trustworthy AI. He holds a master’s degree in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree from Tallinn University.

Risto was selected as a Fellow of the International Strategy Forum, an initiative by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt (in partnership with European Council on Foreign Relations), and received the Global Priorities Fellowship from the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research.