Center for AI Safety Action Fund

The Center for AI Safety Action Fund (CAIS AF) is a nonpartisan 501(c)(4) advocacy organization and the policy arm of the Center for AI Safety (CAIS). It was incorporated on July 4, 2023, in San Francisco, California, and formally launched in Washington, DC in July 2024 with keynotes by Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. French Hill, attended by over 100 stakeholders and policymakers. CAIS AF is led by Executive Director Varun Krovi, who brings over 15 years of policy and advocacy experience, including service as Chief of Staff on Capitol Hill where he helped shape the NIST Risk Management Framework and the CHIPS and Science Act. Brian McGrail serves as Policy Lead and Senior Counsel, having previously held roles at the Department of Commerce and the federal judiciary. The principal officer is Dan Hendrycks, who also leads the parent organization CAIS. The organization's mission is to advance public policies that maintain U.S. leadership in AI and protect against AI-related national security threats, while maximizing the benefits of AI and minimizing its global-scale risks. CAIS AF pursues this through three strategies: convening stakeholders including lawmakers, business leaders, national security experts, and ML engineers; collaborating with academia, civil society groups, policymakers, and industry leaders to build consensus on bipartisan AI policy; and educating policymakers on effective approaches to measure and improve AI safety, security, and trustworthiness. Key policy priorities include U.S. leadership in AI chip manufacturing through federal investment and immigration reform, compute security through export controls and hardware-level geofencing, preventing malicious use of AI through security measures and whistleblower protections, and advancing global cooperation through the International Network of AI Safety Institutes. In 2024, CAIS AF co-sponsored California's SB 1047 with State Sen. Scott Wiener and led a coalition of over 80 technology organizations advocating for full NIST AI funding. The organization successfully organized a bipartisan congressional letter that secured $10 million in funding for the U.S. AI Safety Institute. CAIS AF spent $270,000 on federal lobbying in 2024, up from $80,000 in 2023. Program expenses for the 2023 reporting period totaled approximately $2.3 million. As a 501(c)(4) organization, contributions to CAIS AF are not tax-deductible. The organization is registered in San Francisco but maintains a presence in Washington, DC for its advocacy work.