Who funds them, what they fund and how to apply.
AFWERX's SBIR/STTR program funds dual-use technology for the U.S. Air Force through Open Topic, Specific Topic, and STRATFI/TACFI scale-up solicitation tracks, released as continuous numbered cycles (e.g. "26.BZ"). Specific Topic 26.BZ and 26.TZ Release 5 is open through 23 September 2026.
A three-month fellowship examining societal impacts of advanced AI, institutional responses, and policy development; application deadline historically March 24.
CIFAR program providing short-term, flexible funding to catalyze new interdisciplinary machine-learning research collaborations across domains including AI safety and alignment, misinformation/information integrity, trustworthy and interpretable LLMs, real-world deployed-system safety, AI auditing and fairness, and privacy-preserving techniques. Awards have run annually since at least 2020; a recent call funded the program's first AI-safety-specific Catalyst Grants under the national strategy. Apply by contacting CIFAR directly; no standing application URL found.
A $100 million Bezos Earth Fund initiative funding projects that apply AI to sustainable proteins, power grid optimization, and biodiversity conservation. It runs in two phases: Phase I seed grants of $50,000 to up to 30 grantees (submissions closed August 13, 2024), followed by Phase II implementation grants of up to $2 million to 15 grantees. Eligible applicants include US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits and academic institutions globally.
Grants to activists, researchers, and open-source developers building privacy-preserving, freedom-enhancing AI tools and exposing authoritarian AI uses; also runs the AI Hack for Freedom hackathon series.
Renaissance Philanthropy fund applying AI and machine learning to mathematical research: new ML paradigms for mathematical discovery, tools and infrastructure for mathematicians, automated theorem proving and AI-assisted proof development, and open mathematical datasets/benchmarks. All funded code, datasets, and research outputs must be open-access with preprints in public repositories. Initial $9M round expanded by $13M announced March 2026; main grants of $100K-$1M for 12-24 months, plus $20K-$30K summer fellowships and up to $100K seed grants for early-stage work.
No-strings grants of $5,000-$50,000 (compute or cash) for open-source AI/ML projects, distinct from AI Grant's main $250k accelerator.
Grants across four focus areas -- bio-resilience, cyber-resilience, AI model safety, and impact on children/youth from AI tools -- led by co-founder Wojciech Zaremba, part of the Foundation's broader $1B+ annual deployment from its $25B commitment.
The Frontier Model Forum's AI Safety Fund awards grants to independent researchers at academic institutions, research institutions, NGOs, and mission-driven for-profits, for research addressing critical safety and security risks of frontier AI models and enabling standardized third-party evaluations. Proposed budgets are capped at $500,000 per grant, and rounds run as periodic competitive RFPs rather than rolling applications.
AI-BOOST's 2026 AI Challenge Competition runs four generative AI challenges in two application windows. Each challenge awards five EUR 28,500 Spark prizes, a EUR 100,000 final prize, and two EUR 12,500 special awards.
GiveWell's All Grants Fund lets donors support the full range of GiveWell's grantmaking in global health and well-being, including incubating newer programs alongside its top charities.
Amazon Research Awards give university researchers up to $100,000 in unrestricted funds plus up to $50,000 in AWS Promotional Credits, awarded across periodic calls for proposals.
Apple Scholars in AI/ML is a PhD fellowship providing roughly two years of stipend, tuition coverage, a travel grant, and mentorship to doctoral students in AI/ML fields nominated by partner universities.
Arc Institute's Ignite Award gives a one-time $100,000 gift to kickstart ambitious research ideas that are difficult to fund through traditional grant mechanisms.
ARPA-H's current list of open Innovative Solution Openings, initiatives, and exploratory topics. Solicitations rotate. HEARING, IGoR, and BRAINS are no longer on the open list. REST, TIGAR, FASTPASS, STREAM, and ASCENT-IBO are.
12-18 month fully funded residency for scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs across Neuro-AI, AI-enabled life sciences, open science, and public-goods infrastructure; $125k-$250k/yr salary plus $0-$1.5M per-project budget. Application cycles run about twice a year.
Awards AWS Promotional Credit to researchers building cloud-hosted tools, running proof-of-concept tests, or training communities on cloud research workloads. Open to full-time faculty and enrolled graduate or PhD students at accredited research institutions; applications are reviewed on a rolling 90-120 day cycle, with student awards capped at $5,000 and faculty/staff awards uncapped.
The BARDA Accelerator Network offers proof-of-concept funding opportunities year-round with rolling application submissions and priority deadlines, part of BARDA's DRIVe partnering approach for health-security innovation.
Status describes whether a program is running. Application methods are recorded separately. Read the funder’s terms before applying.