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.

Fellows are expected to produce written outputs suitable for sharing publicly. These could be in the form of blog posts, interactive demos (if applicable), pre-prints, and paper submissions to ICLR, ICML, NeurIPS, and workshops in these conferences.

While there are no rigid guidelines concerning the format or scope of these outputs, we will actively support fellows by identifying relevant conference opportunities, such as NeurIPS, and assisting them in showcasing their research to broader AI safety and academic communities.

We anticipate this fellowship will lead to ongoing mentorship relationships and foster new collaborations among fellows, providing a foundation for continued engagement and future joint projects.

We will organize a speaker series with renowned researchers and peer researchers in the Cambridge area 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 engaging activities, including networking opportunities with researchers in the CBAI network and researchers in the area, research workshops, and wargames.

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.

This summer, CBAI will also organize an AIxBiosecurity Research Fellowship Program, with approximately 45 participants in both programs, creating a dynamic environment with frequent activities & deep discussions.

Through MAIA and AISST, AI safety student groups that are fiscally sponsored and operated by CBAI, we will host networking events and socials for junior researchers.

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 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 be able to extend an offer conditional upon receiving an offer from one of the CBAI research fellowship streams or a mentor who is confirmed by CBAI.

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. Please indicate clearly in your application if you anticipate needing to attend only part of the program in person.

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