The main kinds of grant
These are grants: money for a defined piece of work that you do not pay back and that does not usually cost you equity. They are different from the paid research fellowships we cover in our fellowships silo. Typical shapes among the programmes open now:
- Small, fast grants for exploration, a short project, travel or an event. BlueDot Rapid Grants offers Up to $20,000, with an application the organiser says takes about 15 minutes.
- Career-transition grants so someone can move full-time into the field. BlueDot Career Transition Grant offers Up to $200,000 (generally from $20K). BlueDot says these generally start at $20,000; smaller requests should go to Rapid Grants. The grant is a fellowship-style award, not a salary or a contract for services.
- Early-stage project and organisation grants. The Transformative AI Fund makes early-stage grants to individuals, new organisations and existing organisations with new projects, typically Typically $10K–$150K, rarely above $300K. Project Tailwind: funding to start new AI safety organisations funds people starting new organisations that target catastrophic risks from AI, at pre-seed, seed and later scales: Pre-seed $200k – $2m (research or planning grants over 9-18 months); seed $2m – $20m; scale $20m – $200m+. You do not need an entity already formed to apply at pre-seed.
- Open calls that several funders see at once. Lightcone Commons funding round is a shared application: one proposal can be considered by multiple funders, with amounts recommended per proposal. Survival and Flourishing Fund: Speculation Grants (rolling) are expedited grants recommended by SFF "Speculators"; you can apply even when there is no open S-Process round.
Coefficient Giving: funding for work that builds capacity to address risks from transformative AI is a related, rolling call for work that builds capacity to address risks from transformative AI, with the amount set per application.
Who can apply?
Many of these funders will support individuals, not only universities or registered charities. That is unusual compared with public research grants, and it is why people often start here when they do not yet have an institutional home.
- BlueDot Rapid Grants and BlueDot Career Transition Grant are open to people taking a step in AI safety or biosecurity, subject to country restrictions. BlueDot cannot send money to a published list of countries and territories, including China, India and Russia, and cannot fund anyone where doing so would breach sanctions. A BlueDot course is not required.
- The Transformative AI Fund is always open to applications from individuals and organisations. It primarily supports work that reduces global catastrophic risks from advanced AI, and it does not fund biosecurity or nuclear work beyond their intersections with AI.
- Project Tailwind: funding to start new AI safety organisations is for founders and founding teams starting organisations aimed at catastrophic AI risk.
- Lightcone Commons funding round accepts individuals, non-profits and for-profits.
Some other AI safety funds exist but are not always open. Check the organiser's application portal on the day you plan to apply, rather than assuming a rolling fund is taking submissions this week.
Most of these are rolling
Unlike a typical UKRI or Innovate UK competition, most of the funders above have no single closing date. The Transformative AI Fund says it is always open. BlueDot Rapid Grants emails a decision after review. Project Tailwind: funding to start new AI safety organisations asks you to express interest any time, though it may pause if volume is high. Survival and Flourishing Fund: Speculation Grants (rolling) can still be submitted between S-Process rounds.
Rolling does not mean instant, and it does not mean you should wait. A clear, complete application is usually better than a rushed one, but there is no advantage in sitting on a finished proposal until an invented deadline.
How to choose the right funder
Match the grant to what you are actually trying to do, not to the largest number on the page.
- A short experiment, a meetup or a few months of exploration points to a rapid grant.
- A full-time personal transition, with a plan you can test and adapt, points to a career-transition grant.
- A new organisation or a first institutional home points to Tailwind, the Transformative AI Fund, or a shared application such as Lightcone Commons, depending on stage and scale.
It is normal to be unsure. BlueDot says that if you apply to the closest fit, they can redirect you. Our grants guide covers how grants work more generally, including who can hold the money.
How to apply
- Read the funder's scope and restrictions first, especially country and sanctions rules, and whether they fund individuals.
- Be specific about the work, the amount and the time period. Rapid proposals can be short; career-transition and organisation proposals usually need a plan, a budget and some evidence you can carry it out.
- Say what the money would change, not only what you hope to achieve. Several funders ask this directly.
- Apply through the organiser's own form. Our grants list links to each official page and shows when we last checked it.
