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The Cooperative AI Foundation is seeking proposals for research projects in Cooperative AI.

Anyone is eligible to apply, and the foundation welcomes applications from disciplines outside of computer science.

Scope

• The Cooperative AI Foundation’s (CAIF’s) mission is to support research that will improve the cooperative intelligence of advanced AI systems for the benefit of all of humanity. As the field of Cooperative AI is emerging and they are in an early stage of the grantmaking, the intention with this call is to keep the scope as wide as possible while staying true to CAIF’s mission. They will consider proposals that meet the following conditions:
  • The proposal must be for a research project (as opposed to, for example, an educational or advocacy project);
  • The proposal must be focused on the development of AI to help address multi-agent/cooperation problems;
  • The proposal must be such that the results could be relevant for the most advanced AI systems, including future systems;
  • The proposal should aim to contribute in a major way to societally beneficial AI development.

Funding Information

• They do not have a fixed upper limit on how large funding requests they consider, but cost-effectiveness is important to them and they do reject proposals where the costs do not stand in proportion to the expected impact. The grants they have made so far range from GBP 10,000 to GBP 385,000, with a median size close to GBP 150,000.

Eligibility

• Anyone is welcome to apply to this call, and they welcome applications from disciplines outside of computer science.
  • Formal training and degrees (such as a doctoral degree) can strengthen your proposal, but are not required.
  • An affiliation can, in many cases, strengthen your proposal, but is not required. Note that processing of applications from unaffiliated individuals may take longer time.
  • You can be located anywhere in the world.
  • The project you propose can be up to two years long, and should begin within at most one year from the application deadline.
  • For now, they will not process applications for less than GBP 10,000. This may change in the future.
• The aim is to be able to cover all costs for completing accepted projects. This could include:
  • Personnel costs for research staff;
  • Materials (including software and compute);
  • Travel expenses;
  • Publication expenses.
• They allow a maximum of 10% in indirect costs (overhead). They do not cover personnel costs for teaching.

For more information, visit Cooperative AI Foundation.