Bulgarian student joins elite ETH Zurich programme to study AI safety

Bulgarian student Maria Drencheva has been selected for a prestigious research programme at ETH Zurich, winning one of just 20 places from a field of 2,500 young talents, the Ministry of Education said.

The Student Summer Research Fellowship (SSRF), organised annually by ETH Zurich, attracts some of the world’s top students. For two months, Drencheva worked on a key question in modern AI safety: what happens when an AI agent is given a task but clear limits are placed on the actions it is allowed to take. Her research examines whether an AI agent can take actions that fall outside those limits.

Drencheva is an INSAIT fellow in the EXPLORER programme and a student at Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski. Bulgarian media have dubbed her the “golden girl” of mathematics for her success in numerous Olympiads and international competitions.

Editor: Ivo Ivanov