Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck

2026-09-25 · 110 min · 22 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ references The Cognitive Revolution Ai Builders Researchers And podcast

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431
→ hosted by Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz person

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Feed author/publisher: Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz
→ works at Halcyon company

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CEO of Halcyon
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→ discusses Business concept

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→ discusses Entrepreneurship concept

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→ hosted by Turpentine company

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Feed author/publisher: Turpentine
→ references aipodcast.ing website

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Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://aipodcast.ing/
→ references @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
→ references cognitiverevolution.ai website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://cognitiverevolution.ai/

Entities found in this episode

concepts 8

mentioned Technology concept

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mentioned Society & Culture concept

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Feed category: Society & Culture
mentioned Business concept

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Feed category: Business
mentioned Entrepreneurship concept

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discusses Technology concept

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Feed category: Technology
discusses Society & Culture concept

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discusses Business concept

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Feed category: Business
discusses Entrepreneurship concept

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websites 6

mentioned aipodcast.ing website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://aipodcast.ing/
mentioned @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
mentioned cognitiverevolution.ai website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://cognitiverevolution.ai/
references aipodcast.ing website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://aipodcast.ing/
references @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
references cognitiverevolution.ai website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://cognitiverevolution.ai/

companys 4

mentioned Turpentine company

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Feed author/publisher: Turpentine
mentioned Halcyon company

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CEO of Halcyon
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CEO of Halcyon
hosted by Turpentine company

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Feed author/publisher: Turpentine

podcasts 2

mentioned The Cognitive Revolution Ai Builders Researchers And podcast

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431
references The Cognitive Revolution Ai Builders Researchers And podcast

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Zero to One in AI Safety: Halcyon's Mike McCormick on Launching 30 New Orgs & the Founder Bottleneck": https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431

persons 2

mentioned Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz
hosted by Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz

Episode description as stored

Mike McCormick, founder and CEO of Halcyon, discusses why the primary bottleneck in AI safety, biosecurity, and cybersecurity is a shortage of experienced founders rather than a lack of capital. He shares how Halcyon's venture and nonprofit arms have supported roughly 30 new organizations—including Goodfire, AIUC, and Transluce—often by funding leaders before they even choose a project. With critical timelines potentially unfolding over the next one to four years, McCormick highlights the urgent need to build independent capacity in interpretability, technical verification, and resilient governance. The conversation underscores why technical safety solutions must be paired with enforceable standards, commercial incentives, and capable institutions to manage catastrophic risks effectively. For full show notes, links, and references, read the episode page:https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/zero-to-one-in-ai-safety-halcyon-s-mike-mccormick-on-launching-30-new-orgs-the-founder-bottleneck/ Sponsors: ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs lets you deploy enterprise-ready conversational AI agents that talk, type, and take action in over 70 languages. Schedule your demo today at https://elevenlabs.io/tcr OutSystems: OutSystems is the leading agentic systems platform, empowering enterprises to build, coordinate, and govern AI agents and mission-critical applications securely. Learn more and start building your agentic future at https://outsystems.com/tcr Claude: Claude is the AI collaborator for problem solvers, helping with writing, coding, financial models, strategy, and more. Get started with Claude and explore Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr CHAPTERS: (00:00) About the Episode (03:54) Introducing Halcyon (06:09) AI safety portfolio stories (Part 1) (19:07) Sponsors: ElevenLabs | OutSystems (21:57) AI safety portfolio stories (Part 2) (22:42) Halcyon's core thesis (34:14) Funding vs joining orgs (Part 1) (34:19) Sponsor: Claude (35:54) Funding vs joining orgs (Part 2) (47:03) Mission preservation governance (01:00:21) Neglected safety areas (01:09:09) Evaluating AI consciousness (01:19:36) Institutional coordination mechanisms (01:35:59) Transitioning into AI safety (01:46:11) Episode Outro (01:48:08) Outro PRODUCED BY: https://aipodcast.ing SOCIAL LINKS: Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/ Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk