New York University is a major private research university in New York City, home to several AI safety-relevant research groups including the NYU Alignment Research Group and the Center for Responsible AI.
New York University is a major private research university in New York City, home to several AI safety-relevant research groups including the NYU Alignment Research Group and the Center for Responsible AI.
People
Updated 05/18/26Institute Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering; Associate Professor of Data Science; Director, Center for Responsible AI
Glen de Vries Professor of Health Statistics; Professor of Computer Science and Data Science
Associate Professor of Data Science and Computer Science (on leave)
Jacob T. Schwartz Professor of Computer Science, Data Science, Neural Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering
Funding Details
Updated 05/18/26- Annual Budget
- $4,349,000,000
- Current Runway
- -
- Funding Goal
- -
- Funding Raised to Date
- -
Org Details
Updated 05/18/26New York University (NYU) was chartered by the New York State Legislature in 1831 and welcomed its first students in 1832. It is headquartered in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, with additional campuses in Brooklyn (NYU Tandon School of Engineering), Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, and other global academic centers. NYU is one of the largest private universities in the United States by enrollment. NYU's relevance to AI safety stems from several research initiatives. The NYU Alignment Research Group (ARG), founded by Associate Professor Samuel Bowman, is a research group conducting empirical work with large language models to address longer-term concerns about highly capable AI systems. The group has received funding from Open Philanthropy and collaborates with NYU's Machine Learning for Language (ML2) group, CILVR lab, Center for Data Science, and Department of Linguistics. Key faculty include He He and Mengye Ren as collaborating PIs, with Tim G.J. Rudner as faculty fellow and several PhD students. Bowman is currently on long-term leave working at Anthropic. NYU's Center for Responsible AI (R/AI), directed by Professor Julia Stoyanovich and housed within the Tandon School of Engineering and Center for Data Science, focuses on ensuring AI systems are fair, transparent, and accountable. The center conducts interdisciplinary research, technology policy work, and public education initiatives including the We Are AI public literacy program. In September 2024, NYU opened the Global AI Frontier Lab at One MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, in partnership with South Korea's Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP). The lab, led by Turing Prize winner Yann LeCun and Kyunghyun Cho, focuses on three research themes: Fundamental Research in AI, Trustworthy and Responsible AI, and AI for Healthcare. NYU has also received direct grants from Open Philanthropy for AI safety-relevant work, including a grant for an LLM Cybersecurity Benchmark project. The university's annual operating budget (excluding NYU Langone Health) is approximately $4.35 billion for fiscal year 2025, with an endowment of approximately $6.7 billion as of August 2024.
Theory of Change
Updated 05/18/26NYU contributes to AI safety primarily through academic research and training. The NYU Alignment Research Group operates on the theory that empirical research on large language models — studying their capabilities, failure modes, and potential for misalignment — is necessary groundwork for ensuring advanced AI systems remain beneficial. By producing and publishing alignment-relevant research and training PhD students who go on to work at AI safety organizations (as evidenced by alumni at METR, OpenAI, UK AI Safety Institute, and Anthropic), NYU builds the technical knowledge base and human capital needed to address catastrophic AI risk. The Center for Responsible AI operates on a complementary theory that establishing norms, tools, and public literacy around fair and accountable AI reduces near-term harms and shapes a broader culture of responsible development.
Grants Received
Updated 05/18/26Projects
Updated 05/18/26
Interdisciplinary center at NYU Tandon and the Center for Data Science that aims to make responsible AI synonymous with AI.
Joint AI research lab at NYU, housed at 1 MetroTech Center on the Tandon campus, that was launched with the Korean government and is run by Yann LeCun and Kyunghyun Cho to advance fundamental AI research.
Research group at New York University conducting empirical work with large language models to address longer-term concerns about deploying highly capable AI systems.
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