Unfortunately, no. Per the US laws, we cannot have participants with no work permit join our fellowship program. If you don’t have a work permit (e.g., permanent resident, H-1B visa holder, or a student with OPT/CPT), we cannot have you in the program.

Your day will typically begin at our co-working space located in Harvard Square, where you’ll dive into your research project. Around lunchtime, you will attend the weekly speaker event series with virtual or in-person guests. Afternoons usually involve dedicated deep-work sessions focused on your research projects. In the evenings, fellows frequently gather for dinner, followed by various group activities, ranging from paper reading groups to board game nights.

Throughout the week, you'll also have scheduled one-on-one check-ins with your research manager, members of the CBAI team, and coffee chats with other fellows, as well as numerous opportunities to engage with other fellowship events.

We will organize a speaker series with renowned researchers and peer researchers in the Cambridge area and virtual speakers to expose you to frontier research and other relevant research areas that you might be interested in pursuing post-fellowship.

We will also organize a range of activities, including networking events with researchers in the CBAI network and researchers in the area, research workshops, and simulations.

Additionally, you'll have opportunities to interact regularly with AI safety researchers from institutions such as Harvard and MIT, through attending the co-hosted events with research groups in those universities. Additionally, if you’re working with a mentor in a lab, you’re expected to use their facilities 1-2 times a week to expose yourself to other research and discussions in the group.

CBAI also organizes a Research Fellowship Program in AI Safety, with approximately 45 participants in both programs, creating a dynamic environment with frequent activities & deep discussions.

We’ll host events with the Broad Institute, SecureBio, ActiveSite, and other stakeholders in the Cambridge area.

We’ll accept 30 fellows for our AI safety research fellowship program, and 15 fellows for our AIxBiosecurity research fellowship program, which will be released in mid-April.

Although two programs are technically separate, our offices are two minutes from each other and fellows will stay in the same building and attend mostly the same speaker events and socials frequently.

While CBAI fiscally sponsors and operates the AI Safety Student Team at Harvard and MIT AI Alignment, we are not officially affiliated with Harvard or MIT.

However, we work closely with research groups and labs at both universities, and others, including Northeastern and Boston, and fellows working with mentors from labs in these universities may receive affiliate cards to get access to the premises.

Note: If you are a student at a university affiliated with BorrowDirect, you are eligible for a library card granting access to the libraries at Harvard and MIT.

For those joining us outside the Cambridge-Boston area, we will provide housing through Harvard dorms located a few minutes away from our offices.

If you prefer to arrange your own housing, please contact us; we may be able to provide housing reimbursement.

Mentor matching is a key component of our program, ensuring each fellow receives dedicated support and guidance.

However, in rare cases, we might extend a conditional offer to candidates after the interview round. This offer would be conditional upon either receiving an offer from one of the mentors listed on our website or an external mentor that fellowship organizers agree on.

Our default expectation is that all fellows participate in person for the full duration of the fellowship.

However, we understand there may be special circumstances, and we are open to evaluating these on a case-by-case basis.

Successful applicants typically demonstrate clear alignment with the goals and values of our program: a well-articulated interest in AI safety and biosecurity, strong motivation for pursuing research in this area, and a clear career plan for the post-fellowship.

To strengthen your application, clearly outline your relevant background, skills, and past experiences, explain specifically why you're interested in this fellowship, and highlight the impact you hope to achieve through your participation, as well as how you will utilize this fellowship for your post-fellowship.

Your research manager provides ongoing support with project management and progress tracking, and may offer research guidance depending on their background. Your mentor is an external expert matched to your specific research area, offering specialized domain knowledge, targeted feedback, and substantive input on your research direction.

Barring exceptional cases (e.g., someone with a disability that would make attending in-person extremely difficult for them), we will not accept virtual candidates.

We do not allow part-time participation.