AI Ethics Grants

CIFAR and the Canadian AI Safety Institute fund Catalyst Project proposals addressing sociotechnical considerations in AI safety. The program supports interdisciplinary research in machine learning applications to science and society, with recent funded projects spanning misinformation combat, trustworthy language models, democratic alignment of AI systems, Indigenous AI governance, and real-world safety in autonomous systems. Designed to catalyze new research areas and collaborations at the intersection of social sciences, humanities, and AI safety.

The IAPS AI Policy Fellowship is a fully funded three-month program for professionals seeking to strengthen practical policy skills and contribute to impactful projects in AI governance and policy. The Summer 2026 cohort runs from June to August 2026 with options to participate in Washington DC or remotely. The program begins with a two-week in-person residency in Washington DC followed by remote or in-person work with weekly mentorship and career development support. Fellows work full-time on independent AI policy projects covering areas such as AI regulation compute governance international AI agreements AI safety policy AI workforce impacts and responsible AI deployment. The fellowship received 240 applications for the 2026 cohort representing a 35 percent increase over 2025. IAPS is a remote-first organization and legally supports fellows in many countries. This fellowship is distinct from the Vista Institute for AI Policy Fellowship which focuses specifically on AI law and from the Cooperative AI Foundation fellowships which focus on multi-agent cooperation problems.

The Mozilla Foundation Democracy x AI Incubator funds technology projects that strengthen democratic institutions and civic participation through responsible AI. This cohort supports 10 projects at $50,000 each for 12 months, with top performers eligible for Tier II funding of $250,000. Projects must address one of three categories: (1) better information systems including verification tools, diverse information sources, and algorithmic transparency; (2) institutional transparency and accountability mechanisms; or (3) civic space protection and expansion including organizing tools, privacy technologies, and surveillance resistance. The incubator provides mentorship, peer learning, and connections to Mozilla's network alongside financial support. Applications require working technology with demonstrated traction, a committed team capable of 12-month execution, and at least partial open-source commitment or a clear roadmap to open source. This is distinct from other Mozilla programs and specifically targets the intersection of AI and democratic resilience.

The Cambridge ERA:AI (Existential Risk and AI) Research Fellowship 2026 is a 10-week immersive research program based at the University of Cambridge designed to support early-career researchers and PhD students exploring frontier AI safety and governance. The program offers a fully funded fellowship with salary, mentorship from leading AI safety researchers at Cambridge, and access to one of the world's premier research environments. Fellows work on original research in AI safety, AI governance, AI alignment, and related areas of existential risk from advanced AI systems. The program commences July 6, 2026 and provides global mentorship connecting fellows with the broader AI safety research community. This is a highly competitive opportunity for researchers who want to make the transition into AI safety and governance research or deepen their existing work in these critical fields.

The Gates Foundation AI to Accelerate Charitable Giving Grand Challenge seeks innovative AI solutions that transform philanthropic giving. The RFP addresses the question: How might AI support donors to give more and give sooner? Projects must address one of three challenge areas: (1) Donor Discovery & Connection — helping donors identify aligned causes through recommendation engines, personalized learning tools, and impact visualization; (2) Convert Intent to Action — reducing barriers preventing motivated donors from completing donations through streamlined giving processes and community-building systems; (3) Foundational Infrastructure — building underlying data systems and standards for philanthropic AI including data pipelines, nonprofit interoperability with AI agents, and fraud detection. Solutions benefiting global health and development in low- and middle-income countries receive priority consideration. Grantees must participate in up to three learning convenings with peer organizations. Applications are submitted through the Gates Foundation portal at submit.gatesfoundation.org.

The Pivotal Research Fellowship is a nine-week AI safety research program (June 29 to August 28, 2026) based at the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA), with optional extensions of up to six months for strong projects. Fellows receive a GBP 6,000-8,000 stipend, GBP 2,000 housing allowance for non-London residents, London travel coverage, compute resources, and weekday meals. The program offers weekly one-on-one mentorship with established AI safety researchers, dedicated in-person workspace at LISA, research management support, workshops, and speaker sessions. The selection process involves a written application, video interview, mentor-specific work task, and personal interview. Pivotal Research reports that 70 to 90 percent of fellows who applied received extensions in recent cohorts, indicating strong support for continued research development. The fellowship accepts researchers from diverse backgrounds including ML, philosophy, policy, physics, and biology.

AI for Information Security Call for Proposals – Spring 2026 is sponsored by Amazon. Amazon is offering research funding to advance artificial intelligence applications in information security. The program supports research in areas like trustworthy and reliable agentic AI systems, threat detection and response, AI model security, and cloud security.

The Amazon Research Awards AWS Agentic AI Spring 2026 call funds academic research advancing the science and practice of agentic AI systems. The program seeks proposals across four priority themes: no-code and low-code agentic AI solutions for rapid deployment and management, AI-enhanced productivity applications enabling human-AI collaboration, multi-agent systems for secure and effective agent collaboration, and agentic AI for scientific discovery spanning health sciences, chemistry, materials science, and physics. Additional welcome topics include safety and responsible AI for agents, agent customization and post-training optimization, data integration and retrieval systems, enterprise-scale operations and governance, and applications in software engineering, healthcare, finance, media, and consumer assistants. The program supports development of open-source tools and encourages research benefiting the broader AI community. Awards are unrestricted gifts with no intellectual property obligations.

Schmidt Sciences invites proposals for its 2026 Science of Trustworthy AI program, supporting technical research that improves our ability to understand, predict, and control risks from frontier AI systems. The program funds work across three research aims: characterizing misalignment in frontier AI systems, developing generalizable measurements and interventions for AI safety, and overseeing AI systems with superhuman capabilities including multi-agent risks. Research areas include interpretability, robustness, alignment, and risk prediction. Tier 1 awards up to $1M support focused investigations, while Tier 2 awards of $1M-$5M+ fund larger multi-year collaborative efforts across multiple institutions. Schmidt Sciences also provides compute resources, software engineering support, and API credits with frontier model providers. Preference is given to multi-PI collaborations. This is a rigorous scientific research program focused on technical AI safety, not policy analysis.

Schmidt Sciences invites proposals for the 2026 Science of Trustworthy AI RFP, funding technical research that advances the science of building trustworthy AI systems. The program addresses three interconnected research aims: understanding why frontier AI systems develop misaligned goals that fail under distribution shift or pressure (Aim 1), creating valid evaluations and interventions to control what AI systems learn (Aim 2), and developing oversight mechanisms for superhuman AI capabilities and managing multi-agent risks (Aim 3). Beyond direct funding, awardees receive computing resources including GPUs and CPUs, software engineering support, API credits with frontier model providers, and access to a research community. The program is open globally and encourages cross-institutional and cross-geographic collaborations. Indirect costs are capped at 10% of total direct costs.

Schmidt Sciences 2026 AI Interpretability RFP is a pilot program seeking new methods for detecting and mitigating deceptive behaviors from AI models. The program focuses on understanding deceptive behaviors from large language models including sycophancy and knowingly giving harmful advice problems that are appearing more frequently in frontier AI systems trained with noisy human feedback. Research areas include developing monitoring and detection methods for model deception creating targeted steering methods for intervening on model truthfulness building visualizations or dashboards that communicate model truthfulness to users applying detection and steering methods to AI debate settings or decision support systems and studying the role of deception mitigations in multi-agent interactions. This program is distinct from the Schmidt Sciences Science of Trustworthy AI RFP which focuses more broadly on understanding and controlling frontier AI risks. The Interpretability RFP specifically targets research on detecting deceptive LLM behaviors and developing practical interventions.

Innovate UK competition funding the creation, curation, annotation, and exploitation of FAIR-data and benchmarks to fuel AI industry growth. Projects must create high-quality benchmarks based on representative dataset slices to enable evaluation of new frontier AI models, while also developing larger AI-ready annotated and curated datasets. Supports collaborative projects that advance the UK AI benchmarking ecosystem and enable responsible AI development through standardized evaluation frameworks.

Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Office-Wide Broad Agency Announcement (HR001125S0013) is sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - Defense Sciences Office (DSO). This BAA solicits proposals for innovative approaches enabling revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems for national security applications, which can include areas related to AI safety and trustworthiness.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - NSF SBIR is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) SBIR. This NSF SBIR topic focuses on cutting-edge technologies in deep learning-based AI systems and AI-based hardware. It emphasizes next-generation AI technologies that are safe, reliable, fair, robust against sophisticated adversaries, privacy-preserving, and computationally efficient. Sub-topics include Computer Vision Based AI Technologies and Technologies for Trustworthy AI (safe, fair, transparent, privacy-preserving, explainable, and/or secure).

The DeployAI project invites European startups, SMEs, and research organisations to submit mature AI solutions for integration into the AI-on-Demand (AIoD) Platform. The structured three-stage innovation programme supports integration, testing, and real-world deployment of trustworthy European AI technologies. Participants receive financial support, mentorship, infrastructure access, beta-testing opportunities, and visibility through industry events. Aims to accelerate adoption and deployment of responsible AI across European sectors.

Trustworthy Reasoning for AI Cybersecurity Tasks, Operations, and Resilience (TRACTOR) is sponsored by DARPA. The DARPA TRACTOR program funds research on developing AI systems that can perform cybersecurity tasks while maintaining verifiable safety properties, addressing the dual challenge of using AI to enhance cyber defense while ensuring AI-driven security tools do not introduce new …

Making a Difference in Real-World Bioethics Dilemmas Grants is sponsored by The Greenwall Foundation. This program supports research to help resolve important emerging or unanswered bioethics problems in clinical, biomedical, or public health decision-making, policy, or practice. Projects may be empirical, conceptual, or normative and aim for real-world, practical impact. While not exclusively AI-focused, AI ethics can be a relevant area within bioethics.

UK ARIA Safeguarded AI Programme for Mathematical and Formal Methods for Quantitative AI Safety Guarantees is sponsored by UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). ARIA's Safeguarded AI programme, led by Programme Director David 'davidad' Dalrymple, funds research combining scientific world models with mathematical proofs to develop quantitative safety guarantees for AI systems comparable to safety assurances in nuclear power and passenger…

Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy) is a grant from Coefficient Giving that funds evidence-based programs and research in global health, animal welfare, scientific research, and effective altruism causes where philanthropic dollars can achieve high impact per dollar. The fund supports organizations demonstrating rigorous evidence of effectiveness and scalable potential. Eligible applicants include nonprofits, research institutions, and projects aligned with Coefficient Giving's priority cause areas. The fund emphasizes transparency, cost-effectiveness analysis, and funding gaps not addressed by government or traditional philanthropy.

U.S. DOT's Small Business Innovation Research Program FY26 Phase I Solicitation is sponsored by U.S. Department of Transportation. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) FY26 Phase I SBIR solicitation is open for small businesses to submit proposals for innovative research and development in transportation, including topics related to AI, safety, and infrastructure. This solicitation covers various operating administrations such as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

The Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF) supports organizations working on long-term survival and flourishing of sentient life, with a strong focus on AI safety, AI governance, biosecurity, and institutional resilience. Founded by Jaan Tallinn (co-founder of Skype), SFF has distributed approximately $152 million since 2019, with $34.9 million in 2025 alone. The 2026 round is estimated at $20-40 million. SFF uses the S-Process evaluation method involving multiple independent assessors and offers three funding mechanisms: Speculation Grants (rolling basis, smaller amounts for quick-turnaround projects), full S-Process grants (annual competitive round), and Initiative Committee funding. Individual grants range from $10,000 to $4,000,000. Assessors may fund proposals across AI safety, pandemic preparedness, governance, and other existential risk areas.

AI Government Leadership Program is sponsored by Partnership for Public Service. This program is designed to educate agency decision-makers on AI opportunities, highlight best practices for developing AI solutions, and prepare leaders to incorporate AI technology into their strategies. It is offered to executives at the state and local government levels.

AI for Good Grant for Ethical and Socially Responsible AI Innovation is sponsored by Moonshot Platform (through fundsforNGOs). An award for young innovators, engineers, and coders aged 15 to 30 who are building AI solutions that create social good in areas such as education, healthcare, commerce, environmental protection, and community development.

AI for Good Grant for Ethical and Socially Responsible AI Innovation is sponsored by Moonshot Platform. This award supports young innovators leveraging artificial intelligence to create ethical, inclusive, and socially beneficial solutions that address challenges across various sectors. The focus is on practical solutions that solve real problems and generate measurable impact.

Advancing American AI in Agencies (Technology Modernization Fund Call for Proposals) is sponsored by Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), General Services Administration (GSA). This call is open to federal agencies facing capability and infrastructure gaps that are preventing responsible AI adoption. TMF funding can help agencies build the foundation needed to adopt AI tools securely and broadly across the agency.

Investing in multi-agent AI safety research is sponsored by Google DeepMind, Schmidt Sciences, Cooperative AI Foundation, Advanced Research and Invention Agency (supported by Google.org). This funding call aims to accelerate progress by supporting a global network of independent researchers to strengthen multi-agent AI safety. It invites proposals in four priority areas, including sandboxes and testbeds for evaluating multi-agent safety.

Multi-agent AI Safety Research Funding Call is sponsored by Google DeepMind, Schmidt Sciences, Cooperative AI Foundation, Advanced Research and Invention Agency, and Google.org. This funding call focuses on the study of how large-scale multi-agent AI systems behave as a group, and how to provide frameworks to understand and mitigate against potential risks.

Scaling AI Safety for a Multi-Agent World is sponsored by Schmidt Sciences, Google DeepMind, Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA), the Cooperative AI Foundation, and Google.org. This is a joint funding call targeting work that markets would not otherwise do, focused on scaling AI safety for a multi-agent world. It welcomes research that produces open tools. Proposals that straightforwardly apply standard mechanisms for identity, reputation, commitment, or trust (e.g., blockchain-based identity) to AI agents without addressing specific challenges for AI agents are excluded. Commercial product development is also excluded.

Scaling AI Safety for a Multi-Agent World is sponsored by Schmidt Sciences, Google DeepMind, Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA), Cooperative AI Foundation, and Google.org (Joint Funding Call). This funding call aims to catalyze foundational scientific research needed to understand, evaluate, and control risks emerging from large-scale ecosystems of interacting AI agents, deployed by multiple actors.

Schmidt Futures AI Safety Fundamental Research is a grant from Schmidt Sciences that funds researchers pursuing fundamental science to make AI systems more trustworthy, interpretable, and safe. Founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt in 2024, Schmidt Sciences proactively seeks grantees and does not accept unsolicited proposals — funding is organized through targeted programs including a 2026 AI Interpretability RFP. The organization has awarded over $18 million to researchers working to ensure AI benefits society and over $11 million in grants to bring AI to humanities research. Grants have ranged broadly in scale, supporting academic researchers, nonprofits, and think tanks working at the frontier of AI safety science.

AI & Society Seed Grants is sponsored by Cornell University Provost's AI Initiative and Office of the Vice Provost for Research (Internal Funding). This internal funding opportunity is designed to expand and strengthen research on the societal implications of artificial intelligence, inviting proposals that critically examine the social, cultural, and economic implications of AI, and advance human-centered, socially respons…

AI & Society Seed Grants is sponsored by Cornell Research Services (internal funding opportunity, but relevant for understanding foundation interests). This program expands and strengthens research on the societal implications of artificial intelligence. It invites proposals that critically examine the social, cultural, and economic implications of AI, and advance human-centered, socially responsible approaches to its development and use, grounded in public interest.

The Mozilla Foundation Fellows Program supports tomorrow's tech leaders working at the intersection of trustworthy AI, open source, and public interest technology. Mozilla Fellows pursue projects on AI auditing, algorithmic accountability, open source AI infrastructure, AI and democracy, content moderation governance, AI policy research, and bias and harm in machine learning systems. Fellows are embedded with host organizations (universities, NGOs, advocacy groups, news organizations) and receive a stipend plus a network of peers and amplification support. Mozilla has invested over $35 million across the last decade in building a better technology future. The 2026 cohort prioritizes Trustworthy AI and information ecosystem resilience.

NSF NRT Advancing Ethical AI Through Convergent Research supports interdisciplinary graduate training programs that prepare PhD and master's students to research and develop ethical, trustworthy AI systems. Funded programs span fairness, privacy, safety, inclusivity, AI auditing, AI policy, sociotechnical AI research, and human-centered AI. Each training program engages multiple departments (computer science, engineering, social sciences, humanities, law, public policy) and produces a new generation of AI researchers prepared to address equity and well-being. Funded sites have included UT Austin's NRT-AI and Stony Brook's Bias-NRT. Awards provide approximately $3M over 5 years to support graduate trainees, curriculum development, professional development, and convergent research projects. Strong fit for university consortia building interdisciplinary AI ethics graduate programs.

SBIR Phase I — US Small Business Innovation is sponsored by US Federal Government (across 11 agencies including NIH, DOE, NSF, DoD, DARPA). The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides early-stage funding for highly innovative R&D projects. Active funding areas include blockchain for federal applications, decentralized identity, AI safety, and quantum computing. It is non-dilutive and open to US-based small businesses.

The AI2050 Early Career Fellows program supports bold and ambitious work on difficult challenges as well as promising opportunities in AI. Fellows receive funding plus non-monetary support, such as connections to stakeholders to help them amplify impact. The program selects 15-20 early-career researchers around the world annually through a rigorous process. Research is framed by the central question: 'It's 2050. AI has turned out to be hugely beneficial to society. What happened?' Recent cohorts have included researchers across computer science, philosophy, economics, political science, earth sciences, and humanities working on AI safety, AI policy, fairness, AI for science, sociotechnical AI, and human-AI interaction. The 2025 round awarded $18M across 25 fellows.

The NEH Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence program funds the creation of university-based humanities research centers focused on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of artificial intelligence. Funded centers undertake interdisciplinary humanities-led research that brings ethics, law, history, philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, literature, linguistics, and cultural studies to bear on questions raised by AI systems. Topics include responsible AI governance frameworks, AI and civil rights, AI and labor, cultural impact of generative AI, AI and creative authorship, philosophical foundations of machine reasoning, history of AI thought, and humanistic evaluation of AI safety and alignment. Centers are expected to convene researchers, train new humanities scholars in AI, host public-facing programming, and produce publications and translational tools that inform policy and public understanding. Strong fit for universities seeking to launch sustained interdisciplinary AI humanities research programs in partnership with computer science and other STEM departments.

NSF SaTC 2.0 (Security Privacy and Trust in Cyberspace) is the largest open solicitation for university-led cybersecurity research in the federal portfolio now expanded with AI security as an explicit priority area. The 2.0 reboot added generative AI security open-source software security quantum computing security and supply chain security as topics of interest addressing the bidirectional role of AI as both a cybersecurity threat and a defensive tool. Research awards support adversarial machine learning and attacks on AI systems AI weaponization against people information and systems privacy-preserving machine learning and responsible AI use for detecting and responding to cyber threats. The program funds three award types: Research awards up to $1.2M for four years Education awards up to $500K for three years and Seedling awards up to $300K for two years through Dear Colleague Letters. Proposals are accepted on a recurring annual basis with two windows per year. This is distinct from NSF CyberAICorps which focuses on scholarship and workforce development and from NSF AIMing which focuses on AI formal methods and mathematical reasoning.

SaTC 2.0 is NSF's flagship cybersecurity, privacy, and trust research program reorganized to address emerging threats including generative AI security, open-source software security, quantum computing security, and supply chain security. Funded scope covers the bidirectional role of AI as both a cybersecurity threat (adversarial attacks on AI systems, AI-enabled cyberattacks, data poisoning) and a defensive tool (AI for intrusion detection, automated vulnerability discovery, secure-by-design AI). The program supports interdisciplinary collaboration across computer science, mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, and STEM education to build trust in global cyber ecosystems.

NSF Security, Privacy, and Trust in Cyberspace (SaTC 2.0) Program for Trustworthy AI and Generative AI Security Research is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for CISE, MPS, SBE, and EDU. SaTC 2. 0 is NSF's flagship cybersecurity, privacy, and trust research program reorganized to address emerging threats including generative AI security, open-source software security, quantum computing security, and supply chain security.

The Office of Naval Research solicits innovative research proposals for new artificial intelligence methodologies and techniques supporting naval and Marine Corps operations under the Advancing Artificial Intelligence for the Naval Domain BAA (N00014-25-S-B001). Priorities include autonomous maritime systems, human-machine teaming, machine learning for sensor fusion, and trustworthy AI for the naval enterprise. The announcement is international in scope, and proposals are accepted on a rolling basis through September 30, 2026.

Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA N00014-25-S-B001) is sponsored by Office of Naval Research (ONR). This BAA is ONR's primary solicitation for basic and applied research proposals in areas relevant to naval needs. ONR's AI priorities center on autonomous maritime systems, human-machine teaming, and machine learning for sensor fusion, including research in trustworthy AI.

Office of Naval Research (ONR) Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science & Technology is sponsored by Office of Naval Research (ONR). Seeks proposals for AI research supporting naval applications, including trustworthy AI, human-AI collaboration, and AI for decision support. Emphasis on basic and applied research (TRL 1-5) advancing artificial intelligence for future naval capabilities.

AI4D Responsible AI, Empowering People is the second multi-year phase of the AI for Development (AI4D) program jointly funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK FCDO. The program funds responsible AI research, AI public policy, AI talent and education, and the scaling of AI innovations addressing development challenges across Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Funding streams cover applied AI research, networks of African AI institutions, women in AI, AI for climate adaptation, and policy capacity. Rolling calls are issued through the IDRC funding portal and regional partners.

Digital Europe Programme calls for AI in health, digital health, digital skills, and online safety is sponsored by European Commission. Seven Digital Europe Programme calls have opened to support artificial intelligence (AI) in health, digital health, digital skills, and online safety. Part of the funding will also bolster the adoption and deployment of transformative digital technologies across Europe.

Piloting AI-based image screening in medical centres (Digital Europe Programme) is a grant from the European Commission under the Digital Europe Programme that funds large-scale pilot projects deploying and validating trustworthy AI and generative AI systems for medical image screening in real clinical settings. The focus is on cancer and cardiovascular disease screening, generating robust clinical, organizational, and cost-efficiency evidence to accelerate AI adoption in European healthcare. Total budget is up to 9,000,000 EUR with 4,500,000 EUR per project across two funded proposals. Applicants must be legal entities from EU Member States or associated countries, in a consortium of at least 7 applicants from 5 different eligible countries, with at least one industrial partner. Application deadline is October 1, 2026.

Polyphonic AI Fund QuickFire Challenge is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson MedTech. This fund supports the use of artificial intelligence in surgery, with a focus on proposals that support AI model development, data engineering and management, and AI governance. While primarily focused on surgery, AI innovations in medical imaging could be relevant.

The NExT AI Hubs program (RFA-HD-27-006) is a NICHD P20 exploratory center opportunity examining how children with or at risk for specific learning disabilities interact with artificial intelligence technologies in reading, writing, and mathematics. The program's framing is deliberately and unusually restrictive, and applicants who miss this will write the wrong proposal: NICHD is not funding the development of new AI tutoring tools, and it is not funding evaluations of commercial AI products. It is funding research that treats AI as one component of a broader learning environment and asks how children with learning disabilities actually engage with it - what they understand about it, how it changes their strategies, where it helps and where it substitutes for skill development. This positions the program at the intersection of AI safety and efficacy for a vulnerable population, developmental cognitive science, and special education research. Budgets are capped at $390,000 in direct costs per year over a maximum four-year project period, with NICHD committing $1,600,000 in FY 2027 for up to 3 awards, renewable once for a total of eight years. The open date is 2 September 2026 with applications due 3 October 2026 - a notably short window, so teams should be assembling now. Foreign organizations are not eligible.

This is the responsible-AI and governance strand of the NIH Common Fund's PRIMED-AI program, and it is by a wide margin the most accessible of the program's five announcements - two years, up to $300,000 in direct costs per year, roughly five awards, and no requirement to build a clinical tool or assemble an industrial partnership. What it funds instead is methodological infrastructure: standardized, reusable frameworks that address the recurring problems in multimodal AI clinical decision support, drawn from a defined list of topics including data quality, data harmonization across heterogeneous sources, model transparency, patient privacy, and regulatory navigation. A specific structural requirement shapes the whole application - proposals must develop and test two or more distinct frameworks on separate topics, so a deep single-topic proposal will not satisfy the announcement. The word testing carries real weight here as well; NIH is not funding position papers or consensus documents but frameworks that are empirically exercised against realistic multimodal health data and imaging scenarios, so applicants should plan concrete validation work into a compressed two-year timeline. Because the output is meant to serve the wider PRIMED-AI consortium and eventually the field, teams that combine informatics or AI methods expertise with genuine regulatory, bioethics or data-governance depth are better positioned than pure methods groups. The award mechanism is U01 with clinical trials not allowed, and foreign entities are ineligible. For research groups interested in trustworthy and responsible health AI but lacking the scale for the program's multi-million dollar center or tool-development awards, this is the natural entry point into PRIMED-AI, and the modest budget makes it realistic for a single well-composed interdisciplinary team.

Mathematical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). This grant supports interdisciplinary research on mathematical and theoretical foundations for sustainable, trustworthy, and socially responsible AI. It addresses foundational gaps in AI through collaborations between mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, engineers, and social and behavioral scientists. The goal is to establish innovative and principled design and analysis approaches for AI technology, yielding explainable and interpretable models for sustainable, socially responsible, and trustworthy AI.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are enabling extraordinary scientific breakthroughs in fields ranging from protein folding, natural language processing, drug synthesis, and recommender systems to the discovery of novel engineering materials and products. These achievements lie at the confluence of mathematics, statistics, engineering and computer science, yet a clear explanation of the remarkable power and also the limitations of such AI systems has eluded scientists from all disciplines. Critical foundational gaps remain that, if not properly addressed, will soon limit advances in machine learning, curbing progress in artificial intelligence. It appears increasingly unlikely that these critical gaps can be surmounted with increased computational power and experimentation alone. Deeper mathematical understanding is essential to ensuring that AI can be harnessed to meet the future needs of society and enable broad scientific discovery, while forestalling the unintended consequences of a disruptive technology. The National Science Foundation Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) will jointly sponsor research collaborations consisting of mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, engineers, and social and behavioral scientists focused on the mathematical and theoretical foundations of AI. Research activities should focus on the most challenging mathematical and theoretical questions aimed at understanding the capabilities, limitations, and emerging properties of AI methods as well as the development of novel, and mathematically grounded, design and analysis principles for the current and next generation of AI approaches. Specific research goals include: establishing a fundamental mathematical understanding of thefactors determining the capabilities and limitations of current and emerging generations of AI systems, including, but not limited to, foundation models, generative models, deep learning, statistical learning, federated learning, and other evolving paradigms; the development of mathematically grounded design and analysis principles for the current and next generations of AI systems; rigorous approaches for characterizing and validating machine learning algorithms and their predictions; research enabling provably reliable, translational, general-purpose AI systems and algorithms; encouragement of new collaborations in this interdisciplinary research community and between institutions. The overall goal is to establish innovative and principled design and analysis approaches for AI technology using creative yet theoretically grounded mathematical and statistical frameworks, yielding explainable and interpretable models that can enable sustainable, socially responsible, and trustworthy AI. Funding Opportunity Number: 24-569. Assistance Listing: 47.041,47.049,47.070,47.075. Funding Instrument: G. Category: ST. Award Amount: $500K – $1.5M per award.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026 (Responsible AI: advancing trustworthy, ethical and transparent artificial intelligence) is sponsored by European Innovation Council (under Horizon Europe). This call targets projects tackling predefined thematic areas, specifically focusing on Responsible AI: advancing trustworthy, ethical, and transparent artificial intelligence. It supports early-stage, high-risk research with the potential for breakthrough technologies.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges: DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems is sponsored by European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe. EIC Pathfinder Challenges are designed for projects tackling predefined thematic areas set by the European Commission. This specific challenge focuses on Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems, directly relevant to AI safety research.

This is the EuroHPC access mode built specifically for AI workloads, and it is the most direct route for European researchers who need serious compute without a Horizon Europe grant behind them. Allocations are made in node hours across four petascale and pre-exascale systems - LUMI in Finland, Leonardo in Italy, MareNostrum5 in Spain and MeluXina in Luxembourg - for six-month access periods. The stated scope is explicit about modern AI: ethical artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cutting-edge foundation models and generative AI including large language models, which means training and fine-tuning runs are in scope rather than being squeezed into a traditional simulation-oriented HPC framing. Eligibility is deliberately wide. All scientific users qualify whether or not their work is funded by national or European programmes, as do public sector users, and industrial users participating in EU-funded research and innovation projects such as Horizon Europe or the Digital Europe Programme. The one important boundary: industrial users not involved in an EU research project are directed instead to the AI for Industrial Innovation access modes, so a commercial applicant with no EU project affiliation should check which door they are meant to use before drafting. The call operates on rolling cut-offs rather than a single deadline, with 2026 cut-offs at 27 February, 30 April, 30 June, 31 August, 30 October and 11 December, each at 10:00 CET. That cadence means an unsuccessful application can be revised and resubmitted roughly two months later, and a team that misses one window is never waiting long for the next. As with all compute schemes, no money is awarded - staff and data costs must come from elsewhere.

EQUAL Compute Network is an IDRC-funded initiative to address compute inequities limiting Global South participation in frontier AI research. The network supports researchers, public-interest compute providers, and policy actors in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia to evaluate compute needs, build shared compute infrastructure, develop pooled access models, and inform national AI compute strategies. Sub-grants fund research nodes, pilot deployments of shared compute clusters, and policy analysis on compute access. Aligns with the wider AI4D portfolio and complements Canadian and EU compute sovereignty initiatives.

Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I, Phase II, Fast-Track Programs SBIR/STTR: Developing Deep Technologies that Advance U.S. Competitiveness and Security is sponsored by National Science Foundation. Funds U. S. small businesses developing high-risk, deep technologies including artificial intelligence, with an explicit AI topic area covering deep learning, computer vision, trustworthy AI, novel hardware, and related cutting-edge areas.

DARPA's Information Innovation Office (I2O) office-wide BAA (HR001126S0001) is the widest entry point for AI researchers seeking defense funding. It organizes interests around four thrust areas: transformative AI (trustworthy, explainable, ethically-aligned systems), resilient and secure software, offensive and defensive cybersecurity, and fighting in the information domain, with AI threads running through all. It is a standing invitation for disruptive R&D concepts in information science, accepting proposals outside current program priorities.

Bridge2AI Stage 2 advances NIH's flagship biomedical AI initiative from creating ethically sourced, machine-learning-ready datasets to delivering deployable AI tools for specific health challenges. Stage 2 funds Innovation Funnels that use the Stage 1 AI-ready datasets (voice biomarkers, clinical cardiology, salutogenesis, AI/ML for precision public health) to build diagnostic algorithms, drug discovery platforms, and clinical decision support systems. It also establishes a Network for AI Health Science to develop safety protocols, responsible AI implementation guidance, and ethics frameworks for biomedical AI. Strong emphasis on FAIR data principles, transparent model documentation, equity, and public trust.

Information Innovation Office (I2O) FY2026 Office-Wide BAA (HR001126S0001) is sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) from DARPA's I2O explicitly solicits proposals in offensive and defensive cybersecurity, trustworthy AI, and complex software systems. It's an opportunity for researchers to propose innovative ideas in areas that align with DARPA's mission to prevent technological surprise and create breakthrough technologies for national security.

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Information Innovation Office (I2O) is sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). An open solicitation accepting white papers in various research interests, explicitly including offensive and defensive cybersecurity, trustworthy AI, and complex software systems. This BAA is a potential avenue for sustained DARPA funding.

The Omidyar Network Tech Journalism Fund supports U.S.-based journalists pursuing in-depth stories that illuminate the social, economic, and political impacts of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, generative AI, algorithmic decision-making, surveillance, content moderation, and AI labor markets. The fund prioritizes investigative reporting, accountability journalism, narrative features, and explanatory pieces that surface how AI systems affect communities, workers, and democratic institutions. Part of Omidyar's broader $30 million responsible generative AI investment alongside the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund and AI governance grants.

The Survival and Flourishing Fund (SFF) is a virtual fund organizing grant applications and recommending grants to organizations addressing the long-term survival and flourishing of sentient life. SFF runs main S-Process rounds plus themed rounds, with the 2026 cycle featuring three new themed S-Process rounds in addition to the Main Round. Strong focus on AI safety, AI alignment, biosecurity, existential risk research, longtermist policy, and technical AI governance. Funded organizations include leading AI safety nonprofits and university research groups. Grant recommendations are made via SFF's distinctive S-Process collaborative evaluation. Rolling and round-based application accepted.

AI-ENGAGE launched by NSF in early 2026 as a Quad-nation collaboration with Australia, India, and Japan supporting multinational research teams developing AI tools for agriculture, engineering, scientific discovery, and societal benefit. The inaugural cohort of six awards totaled $6M+ across the four partner countries. Funded research includes precision agriculture AI, AI for crop disease detection in tropical climates, multinational AI safety benchmarks, and AI for scientific discovery. Strong fit for U.S. universities with established collaborations in Quad partner countries. The program expects continued cycles in 2026-2027 with growing scope. Strong fit for AI faculty working in food systems AI, climate-resilient crop AI, AI for scientific discovery, and engineering AI with international research partners.

The Ethics and Governance of AI Fund is a multi-funder coalition that supports applied research on AI bias, fairness, and accountability; educational programs building public understanding of AI; fellowship programs for emerging scholars; and collaborative cross-disciplinary projects on AI policy and governance. The fund channels $27M+ from Knight Foundation, Omidyar Network, Reid Hoffman, the Hewlett Foundation, and Jim Pallotta. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors administers pooled grantmaking; each funder also maintains separate application processes. Funded work includes algorithmic accountability research, AI policy and governance fellowships, civil society capacity-building, and interdisciplinary scholar networks. Strong fit for academics, civil society organizations, journalists, policy think tanks, and law schools researching responsible AI.

AI Safety Fund is sponsored by AI Safety Fund. The AI Safety Fund supports global research projects advancing responsible and safe development of advanced AI systems, focusing on urgent challenges like evaluation, biosecurity, cybersecurity, and governance. Media studies research on the societal impacts and ethical implications of AI would be a strong fit.

The DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory issues a rolling Broad Agency Announcement (W911NF-23-S-0001) soliciting white papers and full proposals for foundational research aligned to ARL's essential research programs. Explicit AI and ML priorities include the Artificial Intelligence of Maneuver and Mobility (AIMM) program, autonomous ground systems, AI-enabled sensing and perception, human-autonomy teaming, reinforcement learning for tactical decision-making, and trustworthy AI for the future battlefield. The BAA supports basic and applied research relevant to the Army Modernization Priorities including next-generation combat vehicles, networked sensors, and soldier lethality. ARL's extramural program engages universities, federally funded R&D centers, nonprofit organizations, and U.S. industry of all sizes through cooperative agreements, grants, and contracts. The rolling BAA structure allows submission at any time and offers a low-friction entry point for new performers seeking long-term partnerships with the Army's principal land warfare laboratory.

Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Tools for Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Validity and Utility (Highlighted Topic) is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH). This NIH highlighted topic encourages the evaluation of the validity and clinical utility of digital health and artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies in biomedical and behavioral research.

America's Seed Fund powered by NSF (NSF SBIR/STTR) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). America's Seed Fund, powered by NSF, offers non-dilutive funding to U.S.-based startups and small businesses developing deep technologies with commercial and societal potential. This includes a strong focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as cognitive science-based AI, computer vision, conversational AI, language-based AI, novel AI hardware, sustainable AI, and trustworthy AI. Funding supports research and development for prototypes, proof-of-concept work, and other scalable products or services.

Humanity AI Fund is sponsored by Multiple Private Foundations (Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Packard Foundation, Omidyar Network, Doris Duke Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Kapor Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Siegel Family Endowment). A collaborative philanthropic initiative dedicated to ensuring artificial intelligence (AI) serves the public good, with a focus on AI governance, education, journalism, labor rights, civil liberties, and community voice.

The Systemic AI Safety Grants programme is a joint initiative of the UK AI Security Institute (AISI), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and Innovate UK, designed to safeguard societal systems during the rapid advancement and adoption of AI technologies. Unlike AISI's Alignment Project which focuses on preventing dangerous behavior in individual AI models, the Systemic Safety programme addresses broader societal risks from widespread AI deployment across critical sectors. The programme supports research across multiple priority areas: evaluations of dangerous capabilities and safeguards, studies on user interactions with AI models, risk governance through protocols and safety cases, sector-specific AI integration risks in education, healthcare, and finance, AI agent interactions and critical infrastructure vulnerability, AI-generated misinformation, and labour market impacts. The first phase selected 20 projects and those are currently underway. With a total fund of £8.5 million, the programme's initial £4 million allocation will expand as the scheme progresses. Successful applicants receive ongoing support, computing resources where needed, and access to a community of AI and sector-specific domain experts. The programme particularly values projects bringing together academic, industry, and civil society expertise.

Microsoft Research's global academic research program providing Azure AI compute credits and access to cutting-edge foundation models for research advancing AI safety, human-AI interaction, and scientific discovery. The program operates through periodic Calls for Proposals, workshops, and conferences. Focus areas include AI safety and responsibility (robustness, transparency, evaluation methods), human-AI interaction (trust, creativity, productivity, reducing digital divides), and scientific discovery (knowledge discovery, hypothesis generation, multimodal data generation). The program is evolving into the Agentic AI Research and Innovation (AARI) initiative focusing on intelligent agent systems.

The Knight Foundation has committed $4 million to USC Marshall School of Business, matched by USC Marshall, to support a Purpose-Driven AI Research initiative that funds interdisciplinary research on how generative AI is reshaping democracy, journalism, civic information, business models for journalism, and AI's role in informed communities. The program supports faculty-led research projects, applied studies with newsrooms and civic tech organizations, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, and policy-oriented convenings on responsible AI. It is part of the Knight Foundation's broader push to position philanthropic AI funding around democratic and civic resilience, and complements other Knight investments such as the Generative AI in Local Newsrooms initiative with Northwestern Medill and the AI Accountability Network. Research awards are issued through USC Marshall's research administration rather than via an open Knight RFP.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) (NSF SBIR/STTR) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). This topic focuses on cutting-edge technologies in deep learning-based AI systems and AI-based hardware. It emphasizes next-generation AI technologies that are safe, reliable, fair, robust, privacy-preserving, and computationally efficient. Sub-topics include cognitive science-based technologies, computer vision, conversational AI, language-based AI technologies, novel AI hardware, sustainable AI for low-resource environments, and trustworthy AI.

The Kapor Foundation awards fellowships to journalists and policy researchers working at the intersection of racial equity, responsible AI, technology accountability, and the future of education and work. Part of the Foundation's broader mission to rebuild a more equitable tech sector, economy, and society. Fellows conduct research and reporting that examines how AI systems impact communities of color and develops policy frameworks for equitable AI deployment. The Foundation is also a founding partner of Humanity AI, a $500 million coalition of 10 major foundations committed to people-centered AI governance.

NSF's National Research Traineeship (NRT) program funds U.S. universities to design and implement bold, interdisciplinary STEM graduate training models in convergent priority areas. The 'Advancing Ethical AI Through Convergent Research' initiative trains the next generation of researchers committed to developing AI systems that support equity, agency, transparency, justice, democracy, and well-being while mitigating algorithmic harms. Funded traineeships bring together computer science, robotics, engineering, philosophy, social sciences, ethics, law, and human-centered design to produce graduates equipped to embed ethical reasoning throughout the AI lifecycle. Example active projects include UT Austin's CREATE (Convergent, Responsible, and Ethical AI Training Experience) and Stony Brook's Bias-NRT, which bridges data sciences with human-centered sciences to study how machine learning is affected by bias at deep and holistic levels.

Grants Program (Subspace Foundation) is sponsored by Subspace Foundation. The Subspace Foundation's Grants Program supports developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs building AI3.0 and funds projects that grow and enhance the Autonomys Network. It focuses on advancing theoretical and practical foundations of decentralized AI systems and exploring new frontiers in blockchain technology, including research into new consensus mechanisms, scalability solutions, privacy-preserving AI, and decentralized AI governance.

The AI Security Fund (AISF), operated by Meridian Prime, supports technical research advancing AI safety through agent identity verification systems, AI agent evaluations, and infrastructure for trustworthy AI deployment. Priority research areas include: agent governance infrastructure (identity, authorization, audit, and accountability mechanisms for autonomous AI agents); novel evaluations of frontier and deployed AI models; scalable oversight and emergent-behavior analysis; multi-agent coordination risks; synthetic-media authentication and provenance; and red-teaming methodologies for high-capability systems. The fund prioritizes proposals with strong technical execution plans, clear safety relevance, peer-reviewed methodology, ethics review, open dissemination of evaluations and infrastructure, and equitable benefits across user communities.

Humanity AI is a $500 million, five-year coalition initiative launched in October 2025 by ten major U.S. foundations to ensure that people, communities, and the public interest shape how artificial intelligence is built and deployed. The initiative funds work across five priority areas: Democracy (protecting rights and freedoms in an AI era), Education (AI centered on student interests and access), Humanities and Culture (protecting creators, intellectual property, and cultural production), Labor and Economy (using AI to enhance rather than replace workers), and Security (safety standards in AI deployment). A forthcoming 2026 open call of approximately $10 million is designed specifically to bring new voices into AI policy and deployment conversations, with explicit priority for organizations in the U.S. heartland, the South, and rural communities historically underrepresented in tech philanthropy. Inaugural grantees announced in May 2026 include organizations working on AI literacy, labor protections, community AI governance, and creative-sector rights.

Foresight Institute AI for Science & Safety Nodes - Grant funding is sponsored by Foresight Institute. Foresight Institute is building a decentralized network of Nodes dedicated to AI-powered science and safety to empower researchers and builders. Their grants focus on targeted calls on specific bottleneck problems in AI safety and AI-first science.

The Global Technology Risk (GTR) Foundation funds research and projects focused on LLM auditing, mechanistic interpretability, and global AI governance. The foundation supports work that helps society understand and manage risks from large language models and frontier AI systems, with emphasis on developing practical auditing methodologies, advancing interpretability science, and informing international governance frameworks. The fund operates on a rolling basis and supports both established research groups and emerging teams working on neglected aspects of AI risk assessment and governance.

The AI4D Responsible AI Empowering People program is a major joint initiative by Canada International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) investing over CAD 100 million to support responsible AI development and deployment in the Global South. The program funds research organizations in developing countries to generate knowledge shaping inclusive ethical and sustainable AI policies. Individual grants of up to CAD 1 million support projects studying socio-economic impacts of AI building local AI research capacity strengthening health systems through contextualized AI solutions and developing responsible AI frameworks. Recent calls have focused on AI impacts in Africa awarding up to four grants per call. The related AI for Global Health (AI4GH) initiative provides CAD 22.3 million over seven years specifically for AI health research. IDRC also partnered with the International Science Council to explore AI impacts on science systems in the Global South. This is distinct from TWAS Seed Grants which target individual early-career African researchers and from Humanity AI which is a US-based philanthropic coalition.

NIST Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is sponsored by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The NIST SBIR program supports small businesses in developing innovative technologies. While not exclusively focused on customer trust or consumer psychology, projects that involve AI safety frameworks or other technologies that could impact user trust in systems may be relevant.

AE Studio Research Grants support bold high-impact ideas that can meaningfully advance AI alignment which AE Studio describes as the most urgent and underfunded research and development challenge of our time. The program funds researchers and scientists working to make advanced AI systems genuinely safe and aligned with human values. AE Studio provides financial support resources and open-source software tools to the research community. The program accepts rolling applications through their online submission portal. Research topics of interest include technical AI alignment mechanistic interpretability value alignment scalable oversight AI corrigibility and other approaches to ensuring AI systems act in accordance with human intentions. AE Studio also works on neurotechnology and brain-computer interfaces that increase human agency. This program is distinct from the Manifund AI Safety Regranting Program which operates through individual regranters directing funding pools and from the Long-Term Future Fund which focuses broadly on civilization trajectory rather than specifically on AI alignment research.

Macroscopic Ventures is a Swiss nonprofit founded in 2019 in Basel that makes grants to nonprofits and investments in socially beneficial companies focused on AI safety cooperative AI digital sentience and long-term risk reduction. The organization plans to distribute up to $100 million in total grants to organizations and individuals working on reducing catastrophic AI risks. Focus areas include AI consciousness and welfare research moral status of nonhuman entities including AI systems cooperative AI development and multi-agent coordination AI policy and governance compute governance and information security digital sentience research and AI verification mechanisms. The organization gave approximately $10 million in grants in 2024 and expects to scale up. Past grant recipients include NYU Mind Brain and Consciousness Center NYU Mind Ethics and Policy Program Cooperative AI Foundation with a $15 million commitment Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab at CMU with a $3 million commitment Institute for AI Policy and Strategy Eleos AI and Rethink Priorities. This is distinct from the Survival and Flourishing Fund which focuses on long-term survival broadly and from the AI Risk Mitigation Fund which focuses specifically on technical AI safety and governance.

The Cooperative AI Foundation PhD Fellowship provides financial and professional support to current and prospective PhD students worldwide whose research focuses on multi-agent and cooperation problems involving AI systems. The fellowship supports research at the intersection of AI safety cooperative game theory multi-agent reinforcement learning mechanism design and social choice theory with applications to preventing AI conflict improving AI coordination ensuring safe multi-agent deployment and developing cooperative norms for AI systems. The 2026 cohort received 240 applications representing a 35 percent increase from the inaugural 2025 cohort. Fellows receive up to $40,000 annually for living expenses annual conference and compute budgets early access to latest AI models invitations and travel funding to CAIF events including gatherings with senior researchers from organizations like Google DeepMind Oxford and MIT. The Cooperative AI Foundation was established with a $15 million commitment from Macroscopic Ventures. This fellowship is distinct from the IAPS AI Policy Fellowship which focuses on policy work and from general AI safety grants which fund established researchers rather than PhD students.

The Cooperative AI Research Fellowship is a full-time three-month research program running from January to April 2026 in Cape Town South Africa. The fellowship brings together participants from diverse backgrounds to pursue AI safety research from a cooperative AI perspective. The program kicks off with a week-long retreat and provides mentorship from top researchers in cooperative AI from organizations such as Google DeepMind the University of Oxford and MIT. Participants receive resources for building their knowledge and network in cooperative AI with financial support covering living and travel expenses. Research topics include multi-agent cooperation problems AI coordination mechanisms cooperative game theory for AI systems preventing AI conflict through cooperative frameworks and developing norms and institutions for AI cooperation. The fellowship aims to diversify the AI safety research community by recruiting from non-traditional backgrounds and regions. This program is distinct from the Cooperative AI PhD Fellowship which provides multi-year funding for doctoral students and from the IAPS AI Policy Fellowship which focuses on policy rather than technical research.

FIPSE-SP Program FY 2025 Awards: Advancing the Understanding Of and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology in Postsecondary Education is sponsored by U.S. Department of Education. This program addresses the need to prepare students and faculty for an AI-integrated society. It focuses on advancing responsible AI integration into teaching and learning, improving educational outcomes, strengthening AI literacy, and promoting ethical AI use across various disciplines including business, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

NIST Measurement Science Grants in AI Safety and Explainability is sponsored by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST offers grants for universities and research organizations to conduct measurement science research in AI safety and explainability, focusing on trustworthy AI, neural network verification, and reliable, secure, and explainable AI systems.

Funding for work that builds capacity to address risks from transformative AI is sponsored by Various organizations and individuals via a centralized platform (explicit funder not named, but described as funding capacity building). This funding supports work to build capacity in fields important for navigating transformative AI risks, including technical alignment research, model evaluation and forecasting, AI governance and policy, information security, and research on the economics of AI.

Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grant Program is sponsored by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This program supports collaborative research that aligns with NIST's research objectives, including the development of foundational and applied research that leads to trustworthy AI systems. NIST works with the AI community to establish technical requirements for accurate, reliable, safe, secure, explainable, and unbiased AI systems.

The Rockefeller Foundation and Center for Civic Futures launched the AI Readiness Project to build state capacity for responsible AI adoption across all 50 U.S. states, territories, and Tribal Nations. The project expands to reach all states and territories, providing critical capabilities and insights for responsible AI governance. Features a first-of-its-kind knowledge hub launched in 2026, regular workshops, and signature convenings. Helps state governments develop AI governance frameworks, build technical capacity for AI procurement and deployment, and adopt responsible AI practices in public service delivery including healthcare, education, and social services.

Safety, Security, and Privacy of AI is a grant program from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that funds measurement science and engineering research aligned with NIST laboratory and program priorities, including AI safety, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, and standards development. Through the FY2025 Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grant Programs, NIST awards grants and cooperative agreements across divisions including the Information Technology Laboratory, Communications Technology Laboratory, Engineering Laboratory, and CHIPS R&D Program Office, among others. Project performance periods may extend up to five years. Awards range from $100,000 to $1,000,000. Eligible applicants include universities, nonprofits, industry partners, and government laboratories.

Seed Funding (for socially responsible AI) is sponsored by Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) - Penn State. The CSRAI invites short proposals for seed funding from Penn State faculty for research that advances its mission of promoting, practicing, and studying socially responsible ways of using, building, and deploying AI technology.

FAR.AI Grant Program is a funding initiative from FAR.AI, supported by Open Philanthropy, that funds research addressing critical AI safety and risk challenges. The program focuses on reducing risks from advanced AI systems, including technical AI safety research, robustness, and interpretability. Funding is targeted toward high-priority areas in AI risk reduction with the potential for significant positive impact. Eligible applicants are individual researchers, typically academics or independent researchers, nominated by recognized experts in the field. Award amounts vary based on research scope and need.

The Current AI Initiative is a grant from Current AI, an independent organization, that funds nonprofits, academic institutions, and research organizations working to ensure AI serves the public interest. The initiative has committed $400 million over five years to support global collaboration and local action in building open, trustworthy AI technology. Eligible applicants include organizations working on AI safety, equity, governance, and the development of AI that expands opportunity, improves healthcare, enhances education, and strengthens security. The initiative focuses on ensuring AI is shaped by and for people, creating a future where AI creates jobs with dignity and supports a thriving, equitable society. Grant details and specific program tracks are available through Current AI directly.

The AI Science Safety Program from Schmidt Sciences is a grant from Schmidt Sciences that funds technical research improving the ability to understand, predict, and control risks from advanced AI systems. The 2026 Science of Trustworthy AI RFP offers two funding tiers: Tier 1 awards of up to $1,000,000 for one-to-three-year projects, and Tier 2 awards of $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 or more for larger multi-year efforts. The program supports research on AI interpretability, robustness, alignment, evaluation methodologies, and governance mechanisms. Eligible applicants are researchers at academic institutions and research organizations globally. The application deadline is May 17, 2026. Schmidt Sciences hosted informational webinars in March and April 2026; inquiries can be directed to trustworthyai@schmidtsciences.org.

DARPA's Artificial Intelligence Exploration (AIE) Program Announcement (DARPA-PA-25-03) constitutes a series of unique funding opportunities that use streamlined contracting procedures and funding mechanisms to achieve a start date within three months of an opportunity announcement, with researchers working to establish the feasibility of new AI concepts within 18 months of award. AIE is a key element of DARPA's broader AI investment strategy designed to maintain U.S. technological advantage in artificial intelligence research, supporting fundamental and applied R&D projects aimed at developing AI systems that function as trusted and collaborative partners in solving problems of importance to national security. Periodic AIE Opportunities are solicited through Solicitation Notices under Contract Opportunities on SAM.gov, with relatively short response windows of 30 to 45 days from announcement to abstract deadline. AIE is the most agile entry point for AI researchers with breakthrough ideas across DARPA's strategic priorities including agentic AI, AI safety and trust, multi-agent coordination, AI for cybersecurity, and AI for scientific discovery.

The NSF National AI Research Institutes program (NSF 23-610) funds large multi-institution centers comprised of scientists, engineers, and educators united by a common focus on advancing the research frontiers in AI. Each AI Institute receives up to $20 million over 5 years to pursue transformational advances in a range of economic sectors and scientific fields, with the program seeking to build a broader nationwide network of AI research excellence. AI Research Institutes have as their primary focus the advancement of multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder research on larger-scale, longer-time-horizon challenges in AI. NSF announced $100 million for five new AI Research Institutes in 2026 in partnership with Capital One and Intel, continuing a program that has grown steadily since 2020: seven institutes in the first cohort, eleven added in 2021, seven more in 2023, two NSF-Simons astronomy institutes announced in September 2024 (each receiving $20 million), and the new 2026 cohort. The 2026 program emphasizes themes including AI for next-generation networks and computing, AI for materials and manufacturing, agentic AI, AI safety, and AI for science. Institutes must build genuine consortia with meaningful integration spanning three to ten partner institutions. Future solicitation cycles expected to continue with thematic focus areas announced annually.

AI Safety Research Grants (Applied Research) is sponsored by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This grant supports applied research in AI safety and explainability. It is part of the ITL Grant Program, which provides financial assistance to support research consistent with the ITL's missions, including Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Privacy Engineering.

Humanity AI Initiative (Pooled Fund Grants) is sponsored by MacArthur Foundation, Omidyar Network, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Kapor Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Siegel Family Endowment, David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors serves as fiscal sponsor). Humanity AI is a collaborative philanthropic initiative dedicated to ensuring artificial intelligence (AI) serves the public good. Pooled-fund grants begin in 2026, targeting democracy, education, labor, cultural preservation, and national security.