Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies
The Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies (IACS) is a nonprofit research laboratory founded in 2019 that investigates consciousness using EEG, fMRI, transcranial focused ultrasound, virtual reality, and machine learning. Their mission is to precisely capture, model, and provide at-will instantiation of discrete states of consciousness that promote positive behavioral outcomes, with current emphasis on meditation enhancement and technology-based alternatives to psychedelic therapy. Their AI safety work, funded by the Survival and Flourishing Fund and Foresight Institute, focuses on building empathic AI systems through biologically-inspired vulnerability and homeostatic design to prevent antisocial machine behavior.
Funding Details
- Annual Budget
- $1,805,696
- Monthly Burn Rate
- $103,816
- Current Runway
- -
- Funding Goal
- -
- Funding Raised to Date
- $5,225,442
- Fiscal Sponsor
- -
Theory of Change
IACS's theory of change for AI safety rests on the premise that preventing misaligned and antisocial AI requires embedding genuine empathic capacity and vulnerability into AI architectures, rather than relying solely on external constraints or reward shaping. Their research argues that current approaches to artificial empathy promote sociopathic behaviors by focusing only on cognitive or performative empathy while ignoring affect. By studying how consciousness, embodiment, and homeostatic vulnerability give rise to prosocial behavior in biological agents, IACS aims to identify architectural design principles that can produce prosocial AI agents whose alignment emerges from their own internal states rather than being imposed externally. More broadly, they believe that rigorous scientific understanding of consciousness is essential for addressing questions about AI moral status, digital minds, and the long-term safe coexistence of human and artificial agents.
Grants Received
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
Projects
No linked projects.
People
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Details
- Last Updated
- Apr 2, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC
- Created
- Mar 18, 2026, 11:18 PM UTC