The AI Objectives Institute (AOI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and development lab founded by the late internet security pioneer Dr. Peter Eckersley in 2021. AOI works to ensure that both AI and future economic systems are built and deployed with genuine human objectives at their core, enabled by broad public input, free markets, and scalable cooperation. The organization collaborates with working groups of academics, scientists, economists, entrepreneurs, and government officials, building tools and developing research at the intersection of democracy, markets, and AI progress. Key projects include Talk to the City (an open-source AI tool for scaling deliberation), the Moral Learning project, and the AI Supply Chain Observatory.
Funding Details
- Annual Budget
- $1,829,928
- Monthly Burn Rate
- $92,181
- Current Runway
- -
- Funding Goal
- -
- Funding Raised to Date
- -
- Fiscal Sponsor
- -
Theory of Change
AOI believes that improved governance capacity is essential to addressing existential risks from AI. Their theory of change rests on differential technological development: advancing safety-enhancing tools and frameworks while identifying and mitigating risk-increasing developments. They argue that the benefits of transformative AI require deliberate planning that goes beyond technical alignment to encompass sociotechnical systems, markets, and democratic institutions. By building practical open-source tools like Talk to the City that scale collective deliberation, conducting research on AI governance and market alignment, and developing frameworks for gradual disempowerment monitoring, AOI aims to ensure that human values and agency are preserved as AI systems become more capable and embedded in societal infrastructure.
Grants Received
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
Projects
No linked projects.
People
No linked people.
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Details
- Last Updated
- Apr 2, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC
- Created
- Mar 18, 2026, 11:18 PM UTC