ML Alignment & Theory Scholars
Rich Barton-Cooper is a skilled Research Scholar at ML Alignment & Theory Scholars since June 2025, focusing on black-box scheming monitoring as part of an AI alignment research program. Prior professional experience includes serving as a Senior Software Engineer at Syntasso from October 2023 to June 2025, contributing to the development of the Kratix platform and additional enterprise products. Rich also held the position of Engineering Team Lead and Software Engineer at Duffel from August 2021 to June 2023, where responsibilities involved building backend payment flows and APIs. Previous roles include Software Engineer positions at Cisco and Ensoft, focusing on router software development, and private tutoring in physics and mathematics. Rich holds a Master’s degree in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics and a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Oxford.
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ML Alignment & Theory Scholars
MATS is an educational seminar and independent research program that aims to provide talented scholars with talks, workshops, and research mentorship in the field of AI safety, and connect them with the Berkeley AI safety research community. Past mentors include researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, MIRI, ARC, CHAI, CAIS, Centre on Long-Term Risk, and more. MATS alumni have joined Anthropic, MIRI, ARC Evals, and CHAI, and founded several AI safety organisations, including Apollo Research, Leap Labs, and a new MIRI division.