Written as part of the AI Policy Fundamentals study group at UChicago’s Existential Risk Laboratory (XLab). Frames AI safety as a collective action problem, where commercial and geopolitical competition pushes firms and governments to prioritize speed of deployment over the safety of their models. Drawing on recent work in economics and AI governance, the brief argues that regulation is one of the few mechanisms that can shift those incentives toward reducing catastrophic risk. The recommendations work across two complementary levels: a binding international agreement as a long-term goal, anchored on verifiable compute thresholds and chip tracking, and domestic measures (model transparency and evaluation, compute nonproliferation, and slowdown commitments) that can reduce risk in the near term while building the technical groundwork for such an agreement.
@techreport{ballesteros2026agi,title={Slowing the Race Toward AGI: International Coordination and Domestic Measures to Reduce Catastrophic Risk},author={Ballesteros-Cobián, Jay},institution={Existential Risk Laboratory (XLab), University of Chicago},year={2026},month=jun,}
2024
Atopic Dermatitis: Beyond the Skin. Impact on Quality of Life in México
Co-authored during my time as a Senior Analyst at Fundación IDEA. Examines the multifaceted impact of atopic dermatitis in Mexico on patients’ quality of life, including physical discomfort, psychological effects, and social implications, as well as the disease’s economic burden (direct medical and indirect costs). My responsibilities included designing the methodology and survey instruments, conducting interviews and data collection, and performing descriptive statistical analysis and data visualization (in Python).
@techreport{ballesteros2024dermatitis,title={Atopic Dermatitis: Beyond the Skin. Impact on Quality of Life in México},author={Ballesteros-Cobián, Jay},institution={Fundación IDEA},year={2024},month=may,}