FLF helps initiate projects that empower humanity in the age of AI.
Rapid increase in AI capabilities brings unpredictability and extreme hazards.
Humanity’s civilizational capacity has increased over time… but it must now accelerate to meet this immense challenge.
We think that — by leveraging AI itself and shaping the new societal infrastructure that will emerge — humanity can dramatically improve our capability to navigate what’s ahead.
FLF performs research to identify priority areas in which we actively work toward scoping and founding new organizations and initiatives.
Epistemic Virtue Evaluations
AI systems should empower people to think critically and provide complete, accurate results, not just give comfortable, reassuring answers.
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AI-Facilitated Collaboration
By creating thoughtful technologies focused on the beneficial use of AI for coordination, we can grow humanity’s capacity to act in the common interest.
Learn MoreWe may be hiring for our internal team, looking for founders, or helping our funded projects fill their open roles.
What’s the difference between the Future of Life Foundation (FLF) and the Future of Life Institute (FLI)?
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is the older and larger of the two. Founded in 2014, it’s an independent nonprofit working to reduce large-scale risks from transformative technologies. Its focus today is primarily on AI, though it also works on other emerging risks including biotechnology and nuclear. Its work spans policy engagement (notably around AI governance in the EU, US, and at the UN), public education and outreach, and grantmaking.
At FLF, we look for high-impact gaps in the landscape and fill them directly — starting new organizations, running fellowships, recruiting founders, and building things ourselves — with a primary focus on AI tools for human collective agency.
How do you decide what projects to launch?
Our in-house research team examines the strategic landscape, accounting for the range of plausible and realistic scenarios over the coming years. We’re looking for risks and ambitions that are not getting the attention they need. From there, we dig in — doing field research, modeling possibilities, working through key sub-questions and cruxes, and talking with people doing relevant work, both in AI and in the fields where AI might be applied — to flesh out concrete visions for interventions that could make a real impact.
By commissioning prototypes, supporting fellows, and convening practitioners, we build up and accelerate the prospects for success in those areas — or move forward with financial and other support for growing projects which demonstrate promise.
How can I apply for a grant?
We don’t have an open application process. Our model is proactive: we identify priority areas first, then go find the right people and projects to pursue them. When we do make grants, it’s typically through three channels: grants to the organizations we’ve started; invitations to specific potential grantees; and occasional smaller-scale opportunities we post publicly.
The Future of Life Institute (FLI), our affiliated organization, runs a larger grants program. FLI also doesn’t accept unsolicited applications, but periodically publishes RFPs, contests, and fellowships you can apply to.