Course materials
Published materials are grouped by module and lecture. Each lecture lists the formats currently available.
Live slides on touch-only devices: tap the right half of a slide to advance, or the left half to go back.
Module 1 — Framing safety and assurance
- Lecture 1: Framing Safety and Assurance
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 2: What is the Object of Assurance?
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 3: What counts as an assurance claim?
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF)
Module 2 — Reactive model behavior and development-time optimization
- Lecture 4: From data and objectives to model behavior
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 5: Proxies and Model-Selection Pressure
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 6: Robustness Beyond the Development Distribution
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 7: Data as Specification
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF)
Module 3 — Sequential decision-making and agency
- Lecture 8: From Prediction to Action
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 9: Reward Hacking and Control-Loop Failure
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF) - Lecture 10: Goal-Directedness and Long Horizons
Course note · Live slides · Slides + speaker notes (PDF) · 6-up handout (PDF)
Module 4 — Adaptive interaction and sociotechnical dynamics
- Lecture 11: Human feedback, preferences, and reward models
Course note
Citation
If you use the materials or repository here is citation information:
MLA
Robertson, Zachary. CS120: Introduction to AI Safety. Stanford University, Autumn 2026, https://stanford-cs120.github.io/fall2026/.
BibTeX
@misc{robertson2026cs120,
author = {Robertson, Zachary},
title = {CS120: Introduction to AI Safety},
howpublished = {Stanford University},
year = {2026},
url = {https://stanford-cs120.github.io/fall2026/},
note = {Autumn 2026 course materials}
}