[1] He is also affiliated with the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science and the Columbia University Center for Research on Environmental Decisions.

In 2011, Baum co-founded GCRI along with Tony Barrett, with the mission to "develop the best ways to confront humanity's gravest threats".

[9][10] Two years later, Baum hosted a regular blog on Scientific American[11] and has been interviewed about his work and research in the History Channel[12] and the O'Reilly Factor.,[13] where he was asked about studying possible human contact with extraterrestrial life and the ethics involved.

[15] In 2016, after receiving a 100,000 dollar grant from the Future of Life Institute[16] his research interests shifted to AI safety[17] and the ethics of outer space.

[7] That same year, he wrote a monthly column for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, where he discussed AI threats, biological weapons and the risks of nuclear deterrence failure.