A German nonprofit that cultivates the next generation of European AI policy leaders through its flagship Talos Fellowship, combining training, a Brussels policymaking summit, and paid placements at leading think tanks and policy organizations.
A German nonprofit that cultivates the next generation of European AI policy leaders through its flagship Talos Fellowship, combining training, a Brussels policymaking summit, and paid placements at leading think tanks and policy organizations.
People
Updated 04/02/26EU AI Governance Fellow
Funding Details
Updated 04/02/26- Annual Budget
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Org Details
Updated 04/02/26Talos Network gUG (haftungsbeschraenkt) is a German nonprofit registered in Berlin that serves as the leading global talent development organization for European AI policy. Its mission is to support the safe development of advanced AI by cultivating the next generation of leaders in AI policy. Talos grew out of Training for Good (TFG), an organization founded in 2021 by Cillian Crosson through the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation program. TFG ran an EU Tech Policy Fellowship starting in 2022, and in late 2023 announced a spin-off to create a dedicated AI policy career organization. The new entity, initially called Talos Institute, was formally registered as Talos Network gUG in Berlin in May 2024. The flagship program is the Talos Fellowship, a seven-month program with three integrated components: an eight-week online AI Policy Fundamentals course exploring frontier AI governance, a seven-day policymaking summit in Brussels featuring expert speakers, workshops, and networking events, and a paid four-to-six-month placement at a leading AI policy organization. Placement partners include the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), The Future Society, OECD.AI, Centre for Future Generations, Apollo Research, and SIPRI, among others. Talos runs two fellowship cohorts per year, each comprising 15 to 25 fellows. Between 2022 and 2025, Talos supported over 80 fellows, with 70% (58 of 83) successfully transitioning to roles directly contributing to advanced AI policy and safety. Alumni now work across the EU AI Office, UK AISI, OECD, think tanks like RAND Europe and CEPS, and national parliaments. In a 2025 survey of AI safety organization hiring needs, Talos was ranked the number-two source of AI policy talent globally. In 2026, Talos is launching a new Policy Leaders Programme targeting individuals with ten or more years of professional experience for senior-level transitions into AI policy roles. The organization is led by Executive Director Chiara Gerosa, who previously served as an AI policy advisor at the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Managing Director David Conrad. The team of six staff members is supported by a board that includes Cillian Crosson (founder, now Executive Director at Tarbell), Max Reddel of the Centre for Future Generations, Patrick Gruban of Successif, and Esben Kran of Apart Research. Talos has been primarily funded by Coefficient Giving (via Good Ventures), with additional support from the Future of Life Institute, the Survival and Flourishing Fund, Longview Philanthropy, and independent individual donors.
Grants Received
Updated 04/02/26Projects
Updated 04/02/26
Talos Network runs the Talos Fellowship, a program that trains and places early-career professionals into European AI policy roles to help ensure safe and responsible AI deployment.
Discussion
Key risk: The main concern is counterfactual and leverage: much of the impact hinges on actually placing fellows into meaningful government posts and ensuring they push robust frontier-safety agendas, whereas many placements may be junior or think tank roles with limited influence and ambiguous x-risk alignment.
Case for funding: Fund Talos Network because it is a top European AI policy talent pipeline (ranked #2 globally) with a 70% placement rate into high-relevance institutions like the EU AI Office, OECD, and UK AISI, and its forthcoming Policy Leaders Programme could seed senior hires who shape frontier AI governance.