AI Safety Policy Entrepreneurship Fellowship

The Policy Entrepreneurship Fellowship (PEF) empowers and guides participants in advancing their policy ideas into practice. During the fellowship (running from September 30, 2026 – February 28, 2027), each Fellow works as a part-time FAS affiliate to advance a policy idea from concept toward implementation by engaging decision-makers, building coalitions, and pursuing opportunities for real-world policy impact.

This particular PEF cohort will concentrate on frontier AI safety issues. Fellows are encouraged to explore various aspects of this field, including:

1. Technical AI Safety: Ensuring frontier AI systems are reliable, aligned with human values, and behave predictably.
2. Governance and policy: Developing frameworks to guide the safe and secure use of frontier AI systems.
3. Risk assessment and mitigation for advanced AI systems.
4. Transparency and accountability: Enhancing these aspects in AI development and deployment.

We are especially interested in proposals that tackle themes such as cybersecurity, capability thresholds, risk taxonomies, impact on critical infrastructure, compute governance, model proliferation (open vs. closed systems), as well as general policy design and capacity considerations for governing catastrophic risks stemming from AI. Our expectation is that Fellows will identify a concrete problem related to frontier AI safety and outline a feasible pathway toward policy adoption, whether through legislation, regulation, standards, procurement, institutional design, or other governance mechanisms.

What you’ll be doing

The Policy Entrepreneurship Fellowship is designed as a flexible and open-ended opportunity for you to pursue impact with the help of FAS resources. Rather than focusing solely on research, the Fellowship emphasizes policy entrepreneurship, equipping participants to identify policy windows, build coalitions, engage decision-makers, and move promising ideas toward implementation.

• Develop and publish a policy memo addressing a specific frontier AI safety challenge, including a practical policy solution and a strategy for engaging the key stakeholders responsible for implementation.
• Participate in Policy Entrepreneurship training sessions and reading groups designed to deepen participants’ understanding of frontier AI safety, policymaking processes, and how to translate technical expertise into real-world policy impact.
• Attend an in-person California retreat, tentatively scheduled for November 4–7, 2026, focused on mentorship, community building, and advancing fellows’ policy projects.
• Attend an in-person capstone event in Washington, DC, tentatively scheduled for the week of February 22, 2027, to launch and disseminate fellows’ policy memos and engage with policymakers, experts, and other key stakeholders.

Selection Criteria

We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds. This fellowship is particularly well suited for early- to mid-career professionals with limited experience working directly in public policy who are eager to translate technical or subject-matter expertise into practical policy impact. Ideal applicants may come from technical AI research, academia, think tanks, civil society, industry, law, cybersecurity, national security, or related disciplines.

Applications will be evaluated holistically. We are looking for applicants who demonstrate:

• A clear understanding of a significant frontier AI safety, security, or governance challenge.
• A concrete, implementation-oriented policy idea with a credible pathway toward real-world adoption.
• Thoughtful consideration of the institutions, decision-makers, and stakeholders needed to implement their proposal.
• An understanding of the practical challenges associated with advancing policy and a willingness to engage constructively with them.
• Curiosity, initiative, and a demonstrated interest in translating ideas into practical policy impact.

Professional Development

• Participation in twice-monthly group check-ins. The FAS staff will make every effort to schedule these check-ins at times that accommodate all participants. FAS staff will accommodate select absences (e.g., due to illness, work conflicts, or vacation) given appropriate notice. 
• Mandatory participation in programming provided by FAS
• The Fellows must commit to dedicating an average of 5 hours/week (20 hours/month) to the fellowship from September 30, 2026 – February 28, 2027, including the mandatory programming outlined above. NOTE: FAS will consider exempting participants from participation in mandatory sessions under exceptional circumstances. 

Benefits

• A $5,000 stipend. The Fellow with the most specific and actionable policy memo and advocacy plan may also receive an additional $1,000 merit award. 
• An additional travel stipend to cover select expenses for the California retreat and Washington, DC, Capstone event.
• Professional editing of written products developed during the fellowship.
• Invitations to FAS programming, curated updates on the rapidly evolving federal S&T landscape, and interactive “deep dive” sessions on practical aspects of policy entrepreneurship.
• Policy-engagement training provided by the staff at the Federation of American Scientists
• Support from FAS in connecting with key experts and actors.
• Monthly individual check-ins with a dedicated FAS staff mentor, plus additional meetings and communications as needed.

Applications are due by 11:59 PM ET on September 7th, 2026. Please note that we are only accepting applications to this position submitted via the linked platform. When applying, you will be redirected to our application platform and will need to create an account to submit an application.

Questions? Contact FAS at dayoneproject@fas.org.