William L. Anderson
Hi, I'm Will! I'm a MATS Fellow with the Oxford Witt Lab. I work on multiagent security, national security, and generally making things go well. In undergrad, I was Director of the Wisconsin AI Safety Initiative and a Research Fellow at UChicago XLab. I have strong beliefs, weakly held, and update based on feedback.
Research
My work focuses on the security risks that arise as increasingly capable AI agents proliferate and come into contact with one another. My technical work focuses on multi-agent security, and my policy work focuses on the national security implications of AI.
- I'm a MATS Fellow in the Multiagent Security stream with Dr. Christian Schroeder de Witt.
- I was a 2025 Summer Research Fellow at UChicago's Existential Risk Lab, where I worked on subtle attacks on multi-agent systems in critical infrastructure, advised by Dr. Lewis Hammond.
- I've got a series of pieces in the works on superintelligence deterrence (working with Morgan C. Plummer). I also wrote about managing US-ROK relations amidst expanding export controls.
- I spent a year and change working on interpretability with Prof. Yiqiao Zhong and Prof. Junjie Hu.
- In summer 2024, I completed the Alignment Research Engineer Accelerator (ARENA) curriculum. I highly recommend others check it out, I've found no better way to quickly upskill in ML Safety.
- I've given technical feedback and advice to many policy projects. I've also been told that I'm an excellent rubber duck. If either of these services would be helpful, feel free to reach out!
Leadership & Involvement
During my undergrad, I was the Director of the Wisconsin AI Safety Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of technical and policy researchers dedicated to guiding the development of advanced AI towards a future that benefits everyone.
- We had 120+ weekly active participants across our intro program and advanced reading groups. Our members have produced 20+ papers, published at ICML, ICLR, NeurIPS, and other top venues.
- We hosted an interdisciplinary panel on AI, featuring faculty from Education, Computer Sciences, and Philosophy. This spring, we're hosting the AI Meets Society Symposium, a 320 person conference bringing together AI researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders.
- I mentor AI Safety student organizers through Kairos's Pathfinder program.
Talks
- Organizer, Research Process & Technical AI Safety Workshops, AIMS Symposium, 2026
- Panelist, Future of AI Panel, AIMS Symposium, 2026
- Multi-Agent Security Risks, International Conference on Information Systems, 2025
- Panelist, Wisconsin Technology Council Panel on AI Safety, 2025
- Diffuse Attacks on Multi-Agent AI Systems, UChicago XLab Research Seminar, 2025
- A Case for Responsible AI, IT Professionals Conference, 2025
- Sparse Models for Interpretability, Yiqiao Zhong Summer Reading Group, 2025
- Security Risks in Multi-Agent AI Systems, Advanced AI Congressional Exposition, 2025
Awards & Fellowships
- 2025 Summer Research Fellowship from UChicago XLab.
- 2025-2026 Sophomore Research Fellowship from UW-Madison.
- 2025 OpenPhil Action Fund University Organizer Fellowship.
Education
I graduated with a B.S. in Data Science and Computer Sciences from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in December 2025.
- GPA: 4.0
- I got the top score (110.45%) in Spring 2025 for CS 577: Introduction to Algorithms, one of the harder undergrad courses at UW.
Mentorship Acknowledgements
I've been lucky to have many incredible mentors throughout my life. A non-exhaustive list of thanks:
- Professor Yiqiao Zhong, Dr. Lewis Hammond, Dr. Christian Schroeder de Witt, and Morgan Plummer, for all of their mentorship and kindness.
- Ben Hayum, Jeremy Kintana, and everyone else at WAISI for their wisdom, guidance, and friendship.
- John Bradley, Dan Bielski, Sean Kern, Zachary Ludvigson, and the many other wonderful coaches and teachers I've had.
- My parents and grandparents, who taught me a love of learning and the value of truth.
Personal
I'm a proud Minnesotan, and love the lakes, outdoors, cold, and snow. I was a competitive swimmer, captained my high school team, and worked during summers as a lifeguard. I've been vegetarian for about 6 years. Some other things I like:
- Anki, Beli, Curius.
- Hats.
- Tolkien, Star Wars, GoT, Eragon, The Witcher, Monty Python, Tom Lehrer, Shakespeare, Henrik Karlsson (Looking for Alice), Scott Alexander, Ben Kuhn, and many others.
- History of (China, Egypt, English, Rome, Byzantium, England) Podcasts, Dwarkesh Patel, and the 80k Hours Podcast.
- Civilization V, Subnautica, Portal, Horizon: Zero Dawn/Forbidden West, etc.