Lightspeed Grants↗

No longer funding AI safety
All 101 grants ↓
Funder·Founded 2023·Berkeley, CA, USA
“We are looking for projects that have a chance of substantially changing humanity's future trajectory for the better.”In its own words: lightspeedgrants.org

Lightcone Infrastructure's one-off 2023 grant round for projects reducing existential risk, including from AI, open to individuals, nonprofits and projects without a charitable sponsor, with Jaan Tallinn as primary funder. Applications closed in July 2023.

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A one-off 2023 grant round for projects that could improve humanity's long-term trajectory, with AI existential risk listed first among its priority areas (also biorisk, decision-maker reasoning and crucial considerations). Evaluators estimated each project's value at different funding levels, and funders reviewed that reasoning and set their own allocations.

Says it gives about $5M a year (2023)

Typical grant $19k ($2k–$125k)

On applying “Funders can adjust how much money they want to distribute after seeing everyone's evaluations” lightspeedgrants.org

Itemised here $5.9M in 101 grants

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Led by Oliver Habryka (Launched the round (launch post author))Its grants page ↗Checked 29 Oct 2026

Money flows

Where its money came from and where it went. Pick years and what to show; hover a box or ribbon for details, click one to focus it, click the background to see everything.

How to apply

Applications
Closed

Biggest recipients

Passed on to other funders

Gifts and pooled money between funders, as recorded on the site.

All grants

101 grants totalling $5.9M, newest first. Recipients link to their own pages; people who received grants without a public profile are shown by number.

2024 35 grants · $1.7M
DateRecipientAmountPurpose
Sep 2024ETH Zurich Foundation$44kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): general support (beneficiary obscured in source; no matching SFF-table row) source
May 2024Center for Applied Rationality$85kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Tushita Jha — LSG project: Jha Agent Foundations Research source
May 2024Center for Applied Rationality$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Tushita Jha — LSG project: Jha Agent Foundations Research source
Apr 2024The Hack Foundation$184kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology,Inc — LSG project: Schnabel AI Safety Litigation source
Apr 2024Individual #1908$135kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Individual #1908 — LSG project: Hebbar Cognition Theory
Apr 2024Individual #3175$17kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Alignment Research
Apr 2024Individual #3905$7kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] MLAB Oxford
Apr 2024Individual #6841$2kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Bostrom Assistant Hire
Apr 2024Individual #6438$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Alignment Research
Mar 2024Centre for Long-Term Resilience$227kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Centre for Long-Term Resilience source
Mar 2024Epistea, z.s$41kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Arb Research — LSG project: Arb Research source
Mar 2024PauseAI$20kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: PauseAI source
Mar 2024Individual #9035$11kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Individual #9035’s PhD — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Research
Feb 2024Colin Raffel$111kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Colin Raffel — LSG project: Raffel Alignment Methods Review source
Feb 2024Individual #1326$3kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Translations
Feb 2024Individual #1326$2kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Translations
Jan 2024Individual #4082$234kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Individual #4082’s PhD — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Research
Jan 2024Capital Technology Group, LLC$104kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Automating Expert Assessment of LLMs for National Security Threats — LSG project: Haddad Automating Experts source
Jan 2024Individual #8904$96kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Freestyle Research
Jan 2024Individual #2990$87kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Cyborg Cognition
Jan 2024Individual #3175$71kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Alignment Research
Jan 2024Individual #2158$55kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Alignment Research
Jan 2024Individual #6700$52kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld]'s Trajectory Models Study
Jan 2024Individual #2060$43kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Algorithm Interpretability
Jan 2024Individual #4710$20kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Debate Oversight
Jan 2024Individual #22206$19kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Moratorium Movement
Jan 2024Individual #6844$6kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Outreach
Jan 2024Individual #1631$5kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Pharma Regulation
Jan 2024Individual #7934$5kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Schons AI Pharma Regulation
Jan 2024Individual #6844$5kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Outreach
Jan 2024Individual #6844$5kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Outreach
Jan 2024Individual #3698$3kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Alignment Coordination
Jan 2024Individual #5099$3kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Interpretability Research
Jan 2024Individual #2367$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Interpretability Tools
Jan 2024Individual #8998$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: BAISC
2023 66 grants · $4.2M
DateRecipientAmountPurpose
Dec 2023SaferAI$181kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Campos Safer AI Project source
Dec 2023AI Safety Info$97kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Stampy’s AI Safety Info — LSG project: Miles AI Safety Info source
Dec 2023Individual #22206$70kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Moratorium Movement
Dec 2023Individual #8284$43kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: LLM Safety Research
Dec 2023Individual #3286$41kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Energy Surface Extraction
Dec 2023IT for Change$36kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Vipra AI Trade Safety Assessment source
Dec 2023Epistea, z.s$22kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Women in AI Safety — LSG project: Short Women in AI Safety source
Dec 2023Individual #7222$19kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Interpretability Study
Dec 2023IT for Change$19kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Vipra AI Trade Safety Assessment source
Dec 2023Individual #6160$18kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Cybersecurity for AI
Dec 2023Adam Shai$18kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Shai Interpretability Research source
Dec 2023Individual #3469$16kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Developmental Interpretability
Dec 2023AI Safety Info$13kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Stampy’s AI Safety Info — LSG project: Stampy's AI Safety Info source
Dec 2023Individual #8129$5kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Runway Crowdfunding
Dec 2023Individual #4362$2kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: AI X-Risk comms survey
Dec 2023Xiangyu Hu [胡翔宇]$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Hu Alignment Upskilling source
Dec 2023Individual #4282$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] RL Safety Research
Dec 2023Individual #6439$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Agency Research
Dec 2023Individual #1413$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Research
Dec 2023Daniel Filan$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Filan AI Risk Podcast source
Nov 2023Center for AI Policy$250kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Campaign for Responsible AI source
Nov 2023Rethink Priorities$240kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Apollo Research — LSG project: Apollo Research source
Nov 2023Institute for Law & AI$200kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Legal Priorities Project source
Nov 2023Epistea, z.s$93kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Arb Research — LSG project: Arb Research source
Nov 2023Individual #2519$60kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Interpretability
Nov 2023Effektiver Altruismus Deutschland e.V.$55kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for European Network for AI Safety — LSG project: ENAIS source
Nov 2023Individual #3698$49kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Alignment Coordination
Nov 2023Epistea, z.s$30kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Women in AI safety — LSG project: Short Women in AI Safety source
Nov 2023Greg Colbourn$30kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Colbourn AGI Moratorium source
Nov 2023Individual #4298$30kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Individual #4298 / Catalyze Impact — LSG project: [name withheld] Catalyze Impact
Nov 2023Individual #4072$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Leveraging ESG for AIS
Nov 2023Individual #7424$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Leveraging ESG for AIS
Nov 2023President and Fellows of Harvard College$14kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Greene Lab Cognitive Oversight source
Nov 2023Xiangyu Hu [胡翔宇]$10kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Xiangyu Hu — LSG project: Hu Alignment Upskilling source
Nov 2023Individual #8129$8kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Runway Crowdfunding
Oct 2023Orthogonal$438kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Orthogonal — LSG project: Orthogonal source
Oct 2023The Hack Foundation$220kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for People for Reasonable AI Safety Efforts — LSG project: Schnabel AI Safety Litigation source
Oct 2023Individual #2158$210kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Alignment Research
Oct 2023Palisade Research$196kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Palisade Research source
Oct 2023FAR AI$187kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: FAR AI source
Oct 2023MATS London Ltd$185kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: MATS London Ltd source
Oct 2023SaferAI$145kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Campos Safer AI Project source
Oct 2023FAR AI$135kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Gleave Alignment Summit source
Oct 2023FAR AI$97kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Alex Turner — LSG project: Shard Theory Model Internals source
Oct 2023Capital Technology Group, LLC$83kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Automating Expert Assessment of LLMs for National Security Threats — LSG project: Haddad Automating Experts source
Oct 2023AI Safety Info$75kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support for Stampy AI Safety Info — LSG project: Stampy's AI Safety Info source
Oct 2023Individual #7222$70kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Interpretability Study
Oct 2023Adam Shai$58kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Shai Interpretability Research source
Oct 2023Individual #6841$57kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Bostrom Assistant Hire
Oct 2023Individual #5099$47kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Interpretability Research
Oct 2023Epistea, z.s$40kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Epistea source
Oct 2023Individual #3117$40kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Research
Oct 2023Amodo Design$35kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Amodo Design Ltd. source
Oct 2023Individual #3469$35kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Developmental Interpretability
Oct 2023Individual #6439$32kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Agency Research
Oct 2023Individual #6844$19kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Outreach
Oct 2023Individual #1631$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Pharma Regulation
Oct 2023Individual #7934$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Schons AI Pharma Regulation
Oct 2023Individual #8998$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: BAISC
Oct 2023Individual #6160$15kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Cybersecurity for AI
Oct 2023EffiSciences$10kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: EffiSciences source
Oct 2023Individual #6438$10kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] Alignment Research
Oct 2023Ashgro, Inc.$9kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Agency Foundations Hackathon source
Oct 2023Individual #1413$9kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] AI Safety Research
Oct 2023Individual #4282$5kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: [name withheld] RL Safety Research
Sep 2023Daniel Filan$1kLightspeed 2023 (paid by Jaan Tallinn): General support — LSG project: Filan AI Risk Podcast source