Loading organizations…
Loading organizations…
Foresight Institute is a leading nonprofit research organization founded in 1986 by Christine Peterson, K. Eric Drexler, and James C. Bennett in Palo Alto, California (now headquartered in San Francisco). Originally established to support the development of nanotechnology, the organization has expanded its scope to encompass multiple frontier technologies that could shape humanity's long-term future.
The organization's mission is to advance science and technology for the benefit of life. It pursues this mission through grants, prizes, fellowships, and events across five core focus areas: Secure AI (computer security, alignment, multiagent systems), Nanotechnology (molecular machines, atomically precise manufacturing), Longevity Biotechnology (aging research, biostasis), Neurotechnology (brain-computer interfaces, whole brain emulation), and Existential Hope (mapping positive future scenarios and coordinating toward them)…
Foresight Institute believes that transformative technologies like AI, nanotechnology, and biotechnology will be among the most consequential developments in human history, carrying both enormous promise and serious risks. Their theory of change operates on several levels: First, by funding underexplored and unconventional approaches to AI safety (such as computer security, cryptographic methods, game-theoretic frameworks, and neurotechnology-based approaches), they aim to diversify the safety research portfolio beyond mainstream alignment work. Second, through their Tech Trees -- visual maps of technical paths toward beneficial outcomes -- they help the field identify key bottlenecks and coordinate research efforts. Third, their fellowship, prizes, and events build a community of ambitious researchers who internalize both the opportunities and dangers of frontier technology early in their careers. Fourth, their Existential Hope program reframes the conversation from pure risk mitigation to actively mapping and pursuing positive futures, generating common knowledge needed to coordinate toward flourishing outcomes rather than merely avoiding catastrophe. The overall causal chain…
Foresight Institute AI Nodes
Closed Aug 25, 2026
AI Nodes; providing funding, compute, and community space for AI safety projects
$10K minimum · $502.9K ideal
**Context** Funding alone isn’t enough for novel AI safety projects to scale. We have been funding frontier technology and science for 40 years and have seen first hand the need for sustained org support, shared infrastructure, and mission-aligned community to build in. The shortening timelines and consolidation of the funding landscape risks crowding out independent AI safety approaches. To counterweight some of these forces, Foresight launched two AI Safety Nodes in 2026, in San Francisco and Berlin.\ \ Each AI Node in Berlin and SF provides three things: \ 1) funding for resident researchers, our “AI Nodees”\ 2) a physical space with residency and programs such as technical workshops and hackathons\ 3) local compute infrastructure so that researchers working on privacy-preserving and secure AI are not dependent on hyperscaler infrastructure. **In-depth** Our grant funding concentrates on three broadly [d/acc](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/01/05/dacc2.html) aligned research areas: - AI for better epistemics and forecasting - security (usable security, access control, automated red-teaming)…
**Two-fold:** 1. Direct impact: We incubate talent and projects advancing d/acc ("decentralized, differential, defensive, democratic") approaches to AI safety, as one of very few funders explicitly committed to this worldview. 2. Structural field-building: Our AI Nodes network in SF and Berlin (grants, compute, events, co-working across two hubs) is a structural approach to mitigating AI power concentration. Our Berlin Node already catalyzes European AI safety work; our SF Node offers a rare third space for researchers outside major labs. Other hubs (London, Lisbon, NYC, Stockholm) have expressed interest in launching Nodes, with the aim of forming a network across democratic jurisdictions sharing sovereign compute, resources, and AI safety talent.
Total requested: $502900, 12 months: - Events: $120k. Weekly thematic AI safety salons in SF and Berlin; one field-building workshop - Stipends: $200k. $10k stipend per AI Nodee for conference travel, visa, career transition etc - Compute: 150$k. CAPEX for 16-GPU cluster, freely available for AI Nodees - Overhead (\~7%): $32900 If we receive less funding: - If we receive 25% of funding, we will spend it on weekly AI safety salons ($1-3k per salon) and an annual field-building workshop ($60k) at the AI Node - If we receive 50% of funding, we will spend the additional funding on offering $10k stipends for our AI Nodees - If we receive 75% of funding we will spend the rest on compute CAPEX and compute expansion Maximum useful ($4M): program described above plus the opening of a new London Node (fellows, grants, office, compute, events).
Fundraising data from grantmaking.ai, updated .
View on grantmaking.aiContext
Funding alone isn’t enough for novel AI safety projects to scale. We have been funding frontier technology and science for 40 years and have seen first hand the need for sustained org support, shared infrastructure, and mission-aligned community to build in. The shortening timelines and consolidation of the funding landscape risks crowding out independent AI safety approaches. To counterweight some of these forces, Foresight launched two AI Safety Nodes in 2026, in San Francisco and Berlin.
Each AI Node in Berlin and SF provides three things:
In-depth
Our grant funding concentrates on three broadly d/acc aligned research areas:
Two-fold:
Context
Funding alone isn’t enough for novel AI safety projects to scale. We have been funding frontier technology and science for 40 years and have seen first hand the need for sustained org support, shared infrastructure, and mission-aligned community to build in. The shortening timelines and consolidation of the funding landscape risks crowding out independent AI safety approaches. To counterweight some of these forces, Foresight launched two AI Safety Nodes in 2026, in San Francisco and Berlin.
Each AI Node in Berlin and SF provides three things:
In-depth
Our grant funding concentrates on three broadly d/acc aligned research areas:
Two-fold:
The Foresight Fellowship is a flagship program of the Foresight Institute, a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1986. The fellowship launched in 2017 with an inaugural cohort of ten fellows working on molecular machines, space technology, longevity, mind uploading, and machine ethics. It has grown substantially since then, supporting approximately sixty fellows per annual cohort by 2023 and becoming highly selective, with roughly a 6% acceptance rate in recent cycles.
The fellowship is a year-long, largely remote program with no minimum work requirement. Fellows receive introductions to senior scientists, relevant funders, and mentors; paid travel to one technical workshop and one Vision Weekend conference each year; membership in a thematic seminar group with the option to present their work; quarterly career counseling; and priority access to the Foresight Institute's AI Nodes in San Francisco and Berlin. Upon completion, fellows join an alumni community…
The Foresight Fellowship aims to reduce existential risk by identifying and accelerating the most promising early-career researchers working on transformative and potentially dangerous technologies. By connecting these researchers to senior mentors, funders, and peers across AI safety, nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and longevity, the program seeks to remove career bottlenecks and speed up progress on safety-relevant science. The underlying theory is that high-potential individuals working in underfunded, interdisciplinary areas are the binding constraint on civilizational resilience, and that targeted network and resource support can dramatically increase their effectiveness and career trajectories.