Joel Becker

I'm currently trying to help figure out what on earth is going on with AI capabilities at METR. (Check out my talk at the AI Engineer World's Fair or lecture at Harvard CS 2881 for an overview of research highlights from 2025.)

I'm also Founder/CEO of Qally's and a regrantor through Manifund. Previously, I did economics/genomics research at NYU, Oxford, and Harvard.

Outside work: I was once the most profitable forecaster on Manifold Markets, co-ran a statistics consultancy advising professional 'soccer' teams, and built a social media presence peaking at 300,000 followers. I enjoy a good sing-along, keeping physically (and financially!) healthy, and cultivating my digital garden.

Email: joelhbkr@gmail.com; joel@metr.org; joel@qallys.com

Meeting Calendar: preferred times, all times

Anonymous Feedback: form

Media & Talks

My top recommendation would be my talk at the AI Engineer World's Fair -- a quick overview of my work on time horizon and developer productivity.
My Harvard CS 2881 lecture is a much more detailed and opinionated overview of my work on time horizon and developer productivity, also touching on exciting research relevant to AI capabilities from outside METR.
Finally, my conversation with patio11 on the Complex Systems podcast is a more wide-ranging conversation about developer productivity.

AI Engineer World's Fair — time horizon + developer productivity (2025)
Harvard CS 2881 — time horizon + developer productivity + other AI capabilities research (2025)
MIT FutureTech — time horizon (2025)
Anthropic — developer productivity (2025)
OpenAI — developer productivity (2025)
Microsoft Research — developer productivity (2025)
FAR.AI — time horizon + developer productivity (2025)
Constellation — time horizon + developer productivity (2025)
Stripe — time horizon + developer productivity (2025)
Foundation for American Innovation — developer productivity (2025)
Golden Gate Institute — developer productivity (2025)
80,000 Hours — time horizon (2025)
EU AI Office — RE-Bench (2024)