Palo AltoLondonStanford ’30

Francesca Crachilova

I study how minds arise, in neurons, in tissue and in machines, and how we keep increasingly autonomous AI systems aligned with what we actually want.

Portrait of Francesca Crachilova
Simulated spike trains · 8 units · two-state Markov firingmean ISI —

About

I’m a first-year at Stanford studying neuroscience and philosophy. My interests run across artificial intelligence, neuroscience, computational biology, philosophy of mind and alignment.

I do computational neuroscience research in Dr Michael Levin’s lab at Tufts and work on multi-agent alignment at Shiba AI. I follow the US–China AI race closely and I’m interested in global entrepreneurship. Outside the lab, I’m a big fan of Russian literature.

Before Stanford, I spent years in competitive debate and won both the Oxford and Cambridge international competitions.

Research & Experience

  1. 2025 – now

    Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University

    Computational Neuroscience Researcher · with Dr Michael Levin · Boston, MA

    Markov models of neuronal firing, used to study pattern formation and information flow in neural clusters.

  2. 2026 – now

    Shiba AI

    Researcher, Multi-Agent Alignment & Safety · Japan / Remote

    Multi-agent alignment and Constitutional AI: coordination, conflicting objectives, and how agentic systems fail.

  3. 2023 – now

    Centre for Digital Assets and Democracy

    Research Fellow · London

    White papers on decentralised finance, digital assets and liberty.

Writing

Debate

2023 – 2025

Team England Debating

Selected as one of 11 top under-18 debaters in England. Winner of the Oxford and Cambridge international debating competitions, and the youngest winner of both, at 16.

Education & Skills

Stanford University
Neuroscience and Philosophy, 2026 – 2030
Technical
Python, machine learning, computational modelling, data analysis
Languages
English, Russian

Contact

I’m always glad to talk about neuroscience, alignment, philosophy of mind, or China.