AI Alignment Awards runs research contests to accelerate progress on key technical AI alignment challenges. The program is designed to raise awareness of AI alignment, identify promising new researchers who may not have prior AI safety experience, and generate novel research ideas. Its initial contests focused on two problems: goal misgeneralization (how to prevent or detect AI agents that pursue the wrong goal out-of-distribution) and corrigibility (how to design AI systems that remain open to being shut down). The program is fiscally sponsored by Players Philanthropy Fund and funded by Open Philanthropy.
Funding Details
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- Fiscal Sponsor
- Players Philanthropy Fund
Theory of Change
AI Alignment Awards operates on the theory that prize contests can attract a broader pool of thinkers to work on AI alignment problems, including people with relevant skills who have not yet engaged with the field. By offering financial incentives for novel research on specific technical problems (goal misgeneralization, corrigibility), the program aims to generate a high volume of diverse ideas, surface the most promising approaches, and identify talented researchers who can then be directed toward careers or projects in AI safety. The indirect pathway is talent identification and pipeline-building, not just direct research output.
Grants Received
from Open Philanthropy
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Details
- Last Updated
- Apr 2, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC
- Created
- Mar 19, 2026, 10:31 PM UTC