OSV Innovation Challenge (Discontinued)

Schmidt Sciences' AI Impact on Jobs program supports rigorous interdisciplinary research on how generative AI and AI agents are reshaping employment, occupational tasks, wages, productivity, and labor markets. Funded scope includes empirical measurement of AI adoption across industries and occupations, task-level analyses of AI capabilities and displacement, longitudinal studies of worker outcomes, AI's effects on inequality and labor market polarization, evaluation of reskilling and transition programs, AI's role in entrepreneurship and small business productivity, and policy-relevant work on social safety nets and labor regulation in an AI economy.

Path to a Cure Research Grant is a grant from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that funds basic science research aimed at restoring CFTR protein function or developing gene-based approaches to treat cystic fibrosis. The program specifically targets projects proposing restoration of CFTR protein function or approaches to fix or replace the defective CFTR gene. Awards provide up to $150,000 per year (plus 12% indirect costs) for up to two years, with grants competitively renewable for additional funding. Eligible applicants are independent investigators at for-profit and nonprofit institutions. Proposals must be hypothesis-driven with sufficient preliminary data. The fall cycle deadline is November 15, 2026.

The Sloan Foundation's exploratory grantmaking in Technology supports the development and adoption of AI tools that accelerate scientific research and automate aspects of the scientific process. Funded scope includes foundation models for science (chemistry, biology, materials, physics), AI lab automation and self-driving laboratories, AI-driven literature review and synthesis tools, machine learning for experimental design, scientific reasoning and hypothesis generation in LLMs, and infrastructure for open scientific AI. The exploratory program identifies emerging sectors, tools, and methods with high potential that may not yet attract mainstream funding, prioritizing interdisciplinary risk-taking work.

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 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.

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.

Humanity AI is a $500 million, five-year pooled philanthropic fund co-led by the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Omidyar Network alongside seven other major U.S. foundations to ensure artificial intelligence is shaped by and for people rather than dictated by a handful of companies. In May 2026 the coalition announced more than $18 million in new grants: $8 million to twelve inaugural grantees (including AI Now Institute, Brookings Institution, Data & Society, Human Rights Data Analysis Group, the London School of Economics, New America, the Pulitzer Center, and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth) and $10 million reserved for a forthcoming public open call launching in summer 2026 that will prioritize communities closest to AI's impact. Funding spans safeguarding democratic institutions, protecting workers' rights, strengthening journalism, advancing education, protecting artists and creators, public-interest AI infrastructure, and AI accountability and governance. Awards in the first round ranged from $500,000 to $2 million.