GTR AI Safety Fund

Our Support

Our goal is to unlock your impact.

Support built around you. The GTR AI Safety Fund is not a fixed programme with tight requirements. We work with you to understand what would help most, then shape support around that. This can mean funding with occasional sparring every few months, intensive operational help at critical moments, or financial support and selective introductions over several years.

Financial Support
Flexible funding, from a single grant to multi-year support for starting your own organisation.
Strategic Support
Technical Expertise, project sparring, and help as you navigate the AI safety ecosystem.
Operational Support
Workspace, hiring support and practical infrastructure when that meaningfully increases your impact.
Network Support
Introductions to mentors, funders, organisations, technical experts, and collaborators relevant to your work.

Application

Who we back

We back a small number of exceptional people each year: people with the potential to shape AI safety, whether by building organisations, doing outstanding research, or taking high-impact position. What matters is what you are capable of and what you want to achieve.

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Commitment to impact
Your primary goal is impact and you want to use your abilities where they matter most: reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI.
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Exceptional potential
You are exceptionally smart, learn fast, and think strategically about hard problems.
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High agency
You are ambitious and turn ideas into results. You build things without waiting for permission or perfect conditions.

FAQs

What is the GTR AI Safety Fund?

The GTR AI Safety Fund is a programme for tailored support for exceptional individuals and early-stage organisations working to reduce catastrophic risks from advanced AI.

Who is the GTR AI Safety Fund for?

The GTR AI Safety Fund is for people and early-stage organisations with exceptional potential to contribute to reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI. We look for three things above all: a strong commitment to impact, and exceptional potential and agency. Educational background, seniority, and conventional credentials are not decisive. We welcome people at any stage from school and university students to experienced professionals as long as they show exceptional potential and commitment to impact.

If you are not sure whether the GTR AI Safety Fund is the right fit for you, we highly encourage you to reach out anyways.

Do I already need a specific project to work on?

No, you don’t need to know yet what exactly you want to do. We also want to enable exceptional people in the stage of exploring the direction in AI Safety.

Which areas do you support?

Anything that credibly reduces catastrophic risks from advanced AI. This may include but is not limited to loss of control, cybersecurity, CBRN risks, power concentration, and international agreements and verification mechanisms. We are also interested in the gradual effects of AI on human development and social behaviour.
This list is not exhaustive: if your work reduces catastrophic risk in a way not mentioned here, we want to hear from you.

What do you support?

We support people, not predefined activities. Within a longer-term partnership, funding can cover, for example, a transition into AI safety, initial funding for a promising organisation, research, compute, fellowships, or conference and travel costs. What we fund, and how much, follows from what would most increase your impact.

How does non-financial support look like?

Non-financial support is tailored to the individual situation. It may include aspects such as for strategic sparring, technical and expert advice, introductions to relevant stakeholders, mentoring or practical help such as a workspace.

Do you support non-profit or for-profit organisations?

Impact is our primary consideration. Our group is interested in supporting everyone with the potential to make a meaningful contribution to reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI. The individual funding structure for a project may differ for support to for-profit organisations.

Is there a geographic focus?

No.

How does the process work?

Once you have submitted your application, we’ll review your documents carefully. If there appears to be a potential fit, we will invite you to an initial conversation. Depending on the funding amount we may follow up with a deeper discussion, including technical input or conversations with relevant experts.

We review potential candidates on a rolling basis. We may also set occasional deadlines for particular funding windows, but you are welcome to get in touch at any time.

Can I nominate someone else?

Yes. We welcome introductions to exceptional people and early-stage organisations who may be a strong fit for the Fund. Please send an informal referral to grants@gtr-foundation.org

How long does it take to hear back from you?

We aim to give you initial feedback, either a decision or an invitation to a call, within 21 days.
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Will I receive feedback if I am not selected?

We know that feedback can be valuable and will give our best to do so. However, we are a small team and are not able to provide feedback to everyone.

Where does the funding come from?

The funding is provided by Jan Beckers. Jan built up his capital through entrepreneurship and technology investments. We are operating as a German gGmbH (gemeinnützige GmbH).

Submission Guidelines

We proactively search and reach out to strong candidates, but we also welcome applications and recommendations. To apply for the GTR AI Safety Fund, please prepare a brief proposal (ideally 1 page, max 3 pages) addressing the following criteria, alongside a CV.

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Application Portal

Thank you for your application!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

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Describe your work or the problems you are interested in working on.
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Tell us about your background, what you have built or done so far, and why ai safety matters to you.
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Tell us why GTR is the right funder for this work. What does it need that other sources can’t easily provide, and where else are you seeking or have you sought funding?

About Us

The GTR AI Safety Fund is an initiative of the Global Technology Risk Foundation (GTR Foundation), a Berlin-based non-profit reducing catastrophic risks from powerful technologies.
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GTR Foundation’s founder Jan Beckers, a serial entrepreneur and technology investor, has followed the rise of technology since buying his first tech stock as a teenager. He is convinced that many of our biggest challenges can be solved with technology, but ever more powerful technology also brings ever greater risks. Believing these risks are not inevitable, he decided long ago to focus his personal non-commercial efforts on reducing global catastrophic risks from technology.

Since 2023, the GTR Foundation Team has supported exceptional people and organisations early, among them Apollo Research, the KIRA Center, The Whistleblower Initiative and Safe AI Germany. The GTR AI Safety Fund now scales our work.

If you are interested in collaborating please reach out to info@gtr-foundation.org.