MATS is an independent research program and educational seminar that connects talented scholars with top mentors in the fields of AI alignment, interpretability, and governance. Read more about the program timeline and content in our program overview.

The Winter 2024-25 Cohort will run Jan 6-Mar 14 in Berkeley, California and feature seminar talks from leading AI safety researchers, workshops on research strategy, and networking events with the Bay Area AI safety community.

The MATS program is an independent 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN: 99-0648563). We have historically received funding from Open Philanthropy, the Survival and Flourishing Fund, DALHAP Investments, Craig Falls, Foresight Institute and several donors via Manifund. We are accepting donations to support further research scholars.

Since its inception in late 2021, the MATS program has supported 344 scholars and 69 mentors. After completion of the program, MATS alumni have:

• Been hired by leading organizations like Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, MIRI, ARC, Conjecture, the UK Frontier AI Taskforce, and the US government, and joined academic research groups like UC Berkeley CHAI, NYU ARG, and MIT Tegmark Group;

• Founded AI safety organizations, including Apollo Research, Athena, Cadenza Labs, the Center for AI Policy, Leap Labs, and Timaeus.

• Pursued independent research with funding from the Long-Term Future Fund, Open Philanthropy, Lightspeed Grants, Manifund, and the Foresight Institute.

Our ideal applicant has:

• An understanding of the AI alignment research landscape equivalent to completing the AI Safety Fundamentals Alignment Course;

• Previous experience with technical research (e.g. ML, CS, maths, physics, neuroscience, etc.) or governance research, ideally at a postgraduate level; or

• Previous policy research experience or a background conducive to AI governance (e.g. government positions, technical background, strong writing skills, AI forecasting knowledge, completed AISF Governance Course);

• Strong motivation to pursue a career in AI alignment research, particularly to reduce global catastrophic risk, prevent human disempowerment, and enable sentient flourishing.

Even if you do not entirely meet these criteria, we encourage you to apply! Several past scholars applied without strong expectations and were accepted.

We are currently unable to accept applicants who will be under the age of 18 on Jan 6, 2025.

All MATS applicants must complete our general application form here. Specific mentors will have additional application requirements.

All stream-specific applications, as well as the general application, are due on Oct 6 at 11:59 pm PT unless indicated otherwise on the application form.

Prospective scholars are able to apply to as many mentors as they would be interested in working with. In the event that a scholar is accepted by multiple mentors, we generally offer the scholar the choice of who to work with.

Applications to work with mentors Neel Nanda and Arthur Conmy are now closed. Their deadline is significantly earlier to accommodate their training phase, which will take place in October.