What the Future of Life Institute's Grantmaking Program Supports

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) provides grants to individuals and organizations working on projects that further its mission: steering transformative technology toward benefiting life and away from extreme large-scale risks. Grantmaking is one of FLI's four focus areas, alongside Policy & Research, Futures, and Communications. If your work addresses extreme risks from powerful technologies—especially AI and biotechnology—FLI's grantmaking is the relevant entry point.

What the program funds

FLI describes its grantmaking as support for "individuals and organisations working on projects that further our mission." In practice, that means projects tied to reducing extreme, large-scale risks from transformative technologies and to guiding those technologies toward beneficial outcomes.

The mission statement on FLI's site frames the underlying logic: "the way powerful technology is developed and used will be the most important factor in determining the prospects for the future of life." Grantmaking is the channel through which FLI backs outside work aligned with that premise.

A concrete example from FLI's own materials: the inaugural conference of the IASEAI (International Association for Safe and Ethical AI), held in Paris in 2025, is identified as an FLI grantee project. This shows the kind of recipient the program has supported—a convening-oriented organization in the AI safety and ethics space—rather than a narrow category such as only academic research or only advocacy.

Where grantmaking sits among FLI's work

FLI organizes its work into four focus areas. Knowing how grantmaking relates to the others helps you judge whether a grant is the right fit for your project or whether another route (policy engagement, communications collaboration) is more appropriate.

Grantmaking is therefore the external-funding arm: it does not replace FLI's own policy, research, or communications work but extends the mission through other people's projects.

The risk areas your project should connect to

FLI's focus areas define the subject matter its mission covers, and grantmaking follows the same mission. The two areas named on its site are:

• Artificial Intelligence — framed as either "an incredible tool that solves real problems and accelerates human flourishing, or a runaway uncontrollable force which destabilizes society, disempowers most people, enables terrorism, and replaces us."
• Biotechnology — framed around advances that can revolutionize medicine, manufacturing, and agriculture, with the corresponding risk dimension implied by FLI's extreme-risk mission.

A grant proposal is strongest when it maps clearly onto one of these areas and states which extreme risk it reduces or which beneficial outcome it helps realize.

How to assess fit before applying

Because FLI's public description of the program is mission-level rather than a detailed call for proposals, use these checks to decide whether to pursue a grant:

1. Mission alignment — Can you state in one sentence how your project steers transformative technology toward benefiting life or away from extreme large-scale risks?
2. Risk relevance — Does the project address AI, biotechnology, or another transformative technology with large-scale risk implications?
3. Additionality — Would an FLI grant enable work that otherwise would not happen, rather than top up an already-funded effort?
4. Comparable precedent — Does your project resemble prior grantees in kind (for example, a convening or field-building organization such as IASEAI)?

If the answer to the first two is unclear, the project likely sits outside the program's scope. If your work is closer to public education or policy advocacy, FLI's Communications or Policy & Research areas may be more relevant than grantmaking.

Practical next steps

• Start at the Grantmaking section of futureoflife.org, which sits alongside the other three focus areas on the homepage.
• Read the Mission statement first, then the Focus Areas descriptions, and use them as the framing language for any inquiry.
• Note that FLI's site does not publish grant amounts, eligibility criteria, or deadlines in the material reviewed here; confirm current process details directly with FLI rather than assuming terms.
• If you want to stay informed about FLI's work and openings, its monthly newsletter (described as reaching 70,000+ subscribers) is the stated channel for updates.

The key decision: if your project is an outside initiative aimed at reducing extreme risks from AI or biotechnology, FLI's grantmaking is designed for you; if your goal is to consume FLI's research or educational output rather than produce aligned work, the other focus areas are the better destination.