Brian Christian (born 1984) is an American non-fiction author, researcher, poet, and programmer. He is best known for his books exploring the human implications of computer science, particularly The Most Human Human (2011), Algorithms to Live By (2016), and The Alignment Problem (2020). Christian's work often bridges artificial intelligence, philosophy, and psychology, examining how machines and humans interact and what it means to be human in an age of automation.
Early life and education
Christian was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and grew up in Little Silver, New Jersey. He attended High Technology High School in Lincroft, New Jersey, a specialized school focused on engineering and science. He then studied at Brown University, where he earned a degree in computer science and philosophy. Later, he completed a Master of Fine Arts in poetry at the University of Washington. This interdisciplinary background - combining technical training with humanities - would shape his later writing on machine learning and ethics.
Research and academic work
Since 2012, Christian has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, affiliated with several research groups, including the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence, and the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. In 2023, he was awarded a Clarendon Scholarship to pursue a doctorate in experimental psychology, with co-supervision in engineering science, at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. His research focuses on computational cognitive science and AI alignment, investigating topics such as the computational structure of decision-making, reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), and how reward models operationalize human preferences. Christian also holds an Erdős number of 3, reflecting his collaborative work in mathematics and computer science.
The Most Human Human
Christian's first book, The Most Human Human (2011), grew out of his experience competing as a "confederate" in the 2009 Loebner Prize competition, an annual contest that tests whether machines can pass as human in text-based conversations. Christian aimed to be judged the most human human - the participant who most convincingly demonstrated human qualities. The book explores what distinguishes human conversation from machine output, drawing on philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. It became a Wall Street Journal best-seller, was named a New York Times editors' choice, and was selected as a New Yorker favorite book of the year. On March 8, 2011, Christian was interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
Algorithms to Live By
In 2016, Christian co-authored Algorithms to Live By with cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths (not to be confused with the computer scientist). The book applies computer science algorithms - such as optimal stopping, caching, and scheduling - to everyday human decisions, from finding a parking spot to managing email. It became the #1 bestselling nonfiction book on Audible and was named an Amazon best science book of the year and a MIT Technology Review best book of the year. The book was praised for making complex algorithmic concepts accessible and relevant to daily life.
The Alignment Problem
The Alignment Problem (2020) is Christian's third book, examining the challenge of ensuring that machine learning systems behave in accordance with human values and intentions. It traces the history of AI safety and ethics, from early cybernetics to modern deep learning and large language models, through the stories of approximately 100 researchers. The book was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the science and technology category. In 2024, The New York Times named it one of the "5 Best Books About Artificial Intelligence," writing: "If you're going to read one book on artificial intelligence, this is the one." The book has been widely cited in discussions of AI ethics and alignment.
Other writing and technical work
In 2025, Christian wrote the introduction for the 75th anniversary edition of Norbert Wiener's seminal work The Human Use of Human Beings, which explores the societal implications of cybernetics and automation. Christian also has a background in software development, having worked in web development since the 1990s. He has contributed to open-source projects such as Bundler and Ruby on Rails. From 2013 to 2022, he served as Director of Technology at McSweeney's Publishing, where he oversaw the launch of a new version of McSweeney's Internet Tendency in 2016 and its first audio issue, in collaboration with Radiotopia, in 2021.
Influence and impact
Christian's work has influenced both academic and popular discourse on AI. In 2010, film director Michael Langan adapted Christian's poem "Heliotropes" into a short film of the same name, which was published in the final issue of Wholphin magazine. In 2014, Vanity Fair reported that The Most Human Human was the "night-table reading" of Elon Musk. The book also inspired playwright Jordan Harrison to write the play Marjorie Prime, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and was released as a feature film in 2017. Additionally, The Most Human Human inspired filmmaker Tommy Pallotta's 2018 documentary More Human Than Human, in which Christian appears. In 2018, Algorithms to Live By was featured as an answer on the game show Jeopardy!. In 2021, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in Fast Company that The Alignment Problem was one of the "5 books that inspired" him that year. Writer Peter Brown has cited The Most Human Human as an inspiration for his book series The Wild Robot, which was adapted into a 2024 film.
Awards and honors
Christian has received numerous awards and honors. In 2022, The Alignment Problem received the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, given in partnership with Schmidt Futures. In 2023, he was awarded a Clarendon Scholarship from the University of Oxford. His writing has been included in The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2012). He was named a Laureate of the San Francisco Public Library in 2016. He has held fellowships at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, and MacDowell (2008-2017). In 2008, he received an award from the Academy of American Poets.
References
This article is based on publicly available information about Brian Christian's life and work.
External links
Official website