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Förderrunde 2026

AI Safety Grants

We fund individuals working to reduce risks from advanced AI systems. A small, fast-moving fund — decisions within four weeks, bureaucracy kept to a minimum.

AI Safety Aachen e.V. is a registered nonprofit based in Aachen, Germany, dedicated to advancing research and education in AI safety. We're now accepting applications for research grants.

Grants are tax-free under §3 Nr. 44 EStG and do not count toward the income thresholds that determine eligibility for statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Kranken­versicherung / Familienversicherung). For students and researchers in Germany, this means you can receive a grant without affecting your insurance status.

What we fund

We support work across the full spectrum of AI safety, including but not limited to:

Research areas

  • Technical alignment and interpretability
  • AI evaluations and auditing
  • AI control and oversight mechanisms
  • Governance, policy, and regulatory frameworks for advanced AI
  • Technical governance — how technology places pressure on or undermines existing laws, decision-making and democratic structures, and how to address it
  • AI and democracy — disinformation, algorithmic influence, automated decision systems in public contexts, and strengthening democratic resilience
  • Biosecurity, autonomous weapons, nuclear risk prevention and other intersections with catastrophic risk

Funding types

We're flexible on what costs we cover. Examples include:

  • Living stipend — to free up time for research during a defined period
  • Compute — cloud credits (AWS, GCP, Azure, RunPod, etc.) or a contribution toward local hardware
  • Software and API access — subscriptions, model API credits, research tools
  • Literature and courses — books, course fees, database access

If you're unsure whether your costs qualify, just describe them in the application — we'd rather see a creative but honest cost breakdown than a conservative one that underrepresents your actual needs.

Who should apply

  • Students (Bachelor's, Master's, PhD) working on AI safety
  • Independent researchers without institutional affiliation
  • Early-career researchers exploring AI safety full- or part-time
  • Practitioners transitioning into AI safety work
  • Participants in our upskilling programs who want to pursue independent research — no prior professional experience required

You don't need to be based in Germany or affiliated with a German institution; we fund individuals internationally. You may not apply if you are currently registered as a member of AI Safety Aachen e.V. in the Vereinsregister at the Amtsgericht Aachen, or if you currently hold a board position.

What we're looking for

There's no fixed template for what we fund. We care most about:

  • Impact potential — does this work meaningfully reduce risks from advanced AI?
  • Tractability — is it achievable in the proposed timeframe with the proposed resources?
  • Exceptional ability — we fund talent, not credentials. That might be prior research or professional experience, but equally standout academic results achieved unusually fast, performance in competitions or upskilling programs, a track record of building things independently, or a demonstrated capacity to learn very quickly and execute.
  • Cost-effectiveness — are the requested resources proportionate to the expected output?

We're open to early-stage and speculative work and don't require prior publications or institutional credentials. We strongly encourage applicants to think about cost-efficiency — whether open-source or free-tier alternatives exist, and whether costs can be shared with other programs. We won't penalize honest, well-reasoned requests, but we do expect you to have thought about why each line item is necessary. All work enabled by the stipend must be published under a free license and shared for public benefit.

How to apply

Send the following to mail@aisafetyaachen.org with the subject line "Grant Application — [Your Name]":

  • CV / Resume (PDF, any format)
  • Research Proposal (max. 2 pages) — what you're working on and why it matters for AI safety; what you'll concretely do during the funding period; what success looks like
  • Cost Breakdown — itemized requested funding with brief justification; proposed funding period; total amount requested
  • Short cover note (optional, max. half a page)

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We aim to respond within four weeks of receiving a complete application.

Questions

Reach out at mail@aisafetyaachen.org before applying if you have questions about eligibility, scope or fit. We're happy to give quick informal feedback on whether an application makes sense before you invest time writing it up.

AI Safety Aachen e.V. is a registered nonprofit (gemeinnütziger Verein) under German law. Grants are issued as Forschungsstipendien pursuant to §3 Nr. 44 EStG and are tax-free for recipients in Germany. They do not count toward the income thresholds relevant for statutory health insurance. Recipients are responsible for understanding the tax and insurance implications in their own jurisdiction.

Apply by email