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Funding Opportunities

Click Apply Now to submit your proposal by January 20, 2025.

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The AISF is now accepting grant applications for research funding.

Click Apply Now to submit your proposal by January 20, 2025. 

The AI Safety Fund awards grants to accelerate research efforts that identify potential safety threats that arise from the development and use of frontier AI models. As AI is increasingly applied across domains, we are looking to develop strategies to avoid negative outcomes through funding research to identify and assess risks and improve the safe deployment of AI for the benefit of society.  We are tackling two critical areas of research with this round of funding: Biosecurity and Cybersecurity.

Please review the RFP for each domain, linked below, for more information on research areas prioritized in this call for proposals. 

Biosecurity RFP 

Cybersecurity RFP 

The AISF will be accepting clarifying questions with this form by November 25, 2024. Answers will be provided in writing and posted to the AISF website by December 9, 2024.  

Submit Your Proposal

Click Apply Now to submit your proposal by January 20, 2025.

Apply Now

SCHEDULE

 

Application period November 18, 2024 – January 20, 2025
Question and Answer period Questions Due November 25, 2024
Responses posted by December 9, 2024
Eligibility and Review period January 21, 2025 – February 28, 2025
Award Notifications April 2025

 

ELIGIBILITY

Specific qualifications vary for the Biosecurity and Cybersecurity opportunities; applicants should carefully review qualification and eligibility requirements to ensure review of their application. 

The AISF makes grants for independent researchers affiliated with academic institutions, research institutions, NGOs, and social enterprises across the globe that aim to promote the safe and responsible development of frontier models by testing, evaluating, and/or addressing safety and security risks. The AISF seeks to fund research that accelerates the identification of threats posed by the development and use of AI to prevent widespread harm. 

The AISF is unable to award grants to the following countries due to applicable US sanctions: 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposes restrictions on services and transactions with individuals or entities located in countries subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions. As a result, the AISF cannot provide grants to: 

  • Cuba
  • Iran
  • North Korea
  • Syria
  • Russia
  • Regions of Ukraine: Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk
  • Belarus 

Please note: The list of sanctioned countries and activities may change at any time without prior notice, in accordance with OFAC regulations. 

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The AISF will engage support from third-party, technical reviewers to evaluate proposals that meet the eligibility requirements. Some proposals may be reviewed, in part, by representatives of the Firms if there is a need to verify feasibility of a proposal. Only relevant information to determine feasibility will be shared with industry partners. 

All proposals will be reviewed based on 8 criteria. Specific considerations for Biosecurity and Cybersecurity are outlined in the RFPs. 

Impact to improve safety measures for deployed frontier AI models. 
Feasibility of the proposed research. 
Relevance of the proposed research for the field of AI safety. 
Peer Review and the research team’s approach to engaging the broader research community to provide feedback on the research findings. 
Technical qualifications of the research team, and relevance for the domain under which the application is submitted. 
Ethics of the research, and the specific safety protocols that will be employed to manage immediate and long-term risk implications of the research findings. 
Equity will be considered as a metric of how the research project will support advancing equity and diversity in the field. 
Accessibility of the research findings to promote transparency in the field. Researchers should also consider potential risk or harm that could result from research findings, and provide justification for limiting access of the research findings.

 

Cybersecurity RFP

Explore research priorities, eligibility and evaluation criteria for our cybersecurity grant.

Biosecurity RFP

Explore research priorities, eligibility and evaluation criteria for our biosecurity grant.

Submit Your Questions

Submit your questions here by November 25, 2024. Answers will be provided in writing and posted to the AISF website by December 9, 2024.