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 Summer 2024 Cohort will run Jun 17-Aug 23 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. Applications close on Mar 24. [EDIT: extended to April 7.]

The Winter 2024-25 Cohort will run Jan 6-Mar 14.

The MATS program is an initiative supported by the Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative. We have historically received funding from Open Philanthropy, the Survival and Flourishing Fund, DALHAP Investments, 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 213 scholars and 47 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;

• 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 June 17, 2024.

MATS now accepts rolling applications for future cohorts.

If you submit an application for Summer 2024 by March 10, your application will be in the first batch considered for admission. We will consider all applications submitted before March 24. [EDIT: Extended to April 7.]

In late March, applicants who make it past the first stage will receive emails that allow them to indicate which mentors’ streams they wish to apply to. Applicants will receive the corresponding mentor selection problems, which are questions and tasks selected by mentors to evaluate your aptitude as a researcher. Note: some mentors request that you spend as long as ~10 hours on their selection problems.

We expect to send out all admissions decisions by mid May.