DC Winter Fellowship 2027

The program emphasizes bipartisan engagement, rigorous analysis, and practical policy relevance, with a focus on how AI policy is shaped within the US political system. We welcome a wide range of applicants, from early-career individuals interested in entering the US AI policy field, to more experienced professionals looking to transition into emerging tech policy from adjacent fields.
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About the Team

GovAI was founded at Yale University in 2016, and was one of the first academic groups to study the policy implications of AI progress. Our first research agenda, published in 2018, helped define and shape the nascent field of AI governance. GovAI now operates independently as a 501(c)3 think tank. Our mission has stayed the same throughout: to help decision-makers navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Our team and affiliate community possess expertise in a wide variety of domains, including AI development best practices, risk analysis, the economics of AI, US-China relations, AI regulation, and AI progress forecasting.

GovAI has alumni, affiliates, and staff with experience working in US government bodies including the National Security Council, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Senate, Department of Commerce, and Department of Homeland Security; think tanks including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Center for a New American Security (CNAS), RAND, the Heritage Foundation, and the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI); government bodies in other jurisdictions including the UK AI Security Institute and EU AI Office; top AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind; and universities including Yale, Stanford, and MIT. GovAI researchers have provided expert input to decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society. Our researchers have also published in top peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including Science, FAccT, and NeurIPS.
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About the Fellowship

Seasonal Fellows join GovAI to conduct independent research on a topic of their choice, with mentorship from leading experts in the field. Each fellow is paired with a supervisor from the GovAI team or network. They spend the first two weeks of the fellowship exploring the AI policy landscape, before settling on a research proposal with input from their supervisors. The research could result in a report, white paper, journal article, op-ed, or blog post targeted at an audience relevant to AI policy. The Fellowship Manager and our broader team will offer additional support in deciding what project and output would be most valuable for the fellow to work toward. You can read about the topics our last DC cohort worked on here.

Alongside their research and weekly meetings with their supervisors, fellows will also have the opportunity to widen their professional network and upskill on AI policy. GovAI will organize a series of Q&A sessions with AI policy experts; hands-on workshops and seminars aimed at building relevant skills and subject-matter knowledge; and work-in-progress meetings that facilitate peer-to-peer feedback, as well as social events. Fellows will also be encouraged to discuss follow-on career opportunities with our team and network.

Our alumni have gone on to roles in government, at top think tanks, frontier AI companies, and world-renowned universities.
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Qualifications and Selection Criteria

GovAI’s DC Fellowship is committed to intellectual diversity and bipartisanship. Our program brings together fellows with a range of perspectives and political backgrounds to work on the shared AI policy challenges facing the United States, and we are dedicated to fostering good-faith engagement across political lines. You can find out more about our previous cohort here.

We are interested in candidates from a broad set of professional backgrounds, including those with experience in government, academia, industry, or civil society. We are especially excited about candidates with relevant professional experience, research experience, or graduate study in areas of expertise relevant to US AI policy, which include — but are by no means limited to — public policy, political science, engineering, computer science, economics, biosecurity, cybersecurity, China studies, and risk management (e.g. assurance and auditing). However, there are no specific requirements for the role; we also welcome applications from promising undergraduates.

When assessing applications, we will be looking for candidates who have the following strengths or show positive signs of being able to develop them:

• Quality of work: The ability to produce clearly written, insightful, and even-handed research or policy advice. We are particularly excited about strong reasoning ability and clear and concise writing.
• Relevant expertise: Skills or knowledge that are likely to be helpful for working on topics relevant to AI policy. We think that relevant expertise can take many different forms. Note that we also do not have any strict degree requirements.
• Judgement: The ability to prioritize between different research or policy directions, and good intuitions about the feasibility of different directions.‍‍
• Team fit: Openness to feedback, commitment to intellectual honesty and rigor, comfort in expressing uncertainty, and a serious interest in using your career to contribute to successfully navigating the transition to a world with advanced AI.
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Salary, Duration, and Location

Fellows will join us for three months in Washington, DC, from January 18th to April 9th, 2027. Fellows will receive a stipend of $21,000, plus support for traveling to DC. This is an in-person role. While in DC, we provide our fellows with lunch on weekdays and a desk in our DC office. Only candidates who have the right to work in the US are eligible to apply; we do not sponsor visas for this fellowship.

This is intended to be a full-time role. However, if you are a current researcher at a DC think tank, a staffer in a government office, or a DC-based professional doing work relevant to AI governance, we may be able to facilitate a part-time fellowship at a pro-rated salary. If the pay represents a barrier to your participation in the fellowship, we may be able to make accommodations.

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How to Apply and What to Expect

The application process consists of three stages: 

• In the first round, candidates submit a written application and, if selected, complete a short (approximately 20-minute) automated abstract reasoning assessment, which serves as a pathway to the second round.
• The second round consists of a paid, remote work test, to which we will invite candidates in August. 
• The third round, which takes place in September, consists of a remote interview and reference checks. 
• We expect to communicate final decisions to candidates in October. 

Once applications open, you'll be able to reach us directly for deadline accommodations, accessibility support, or any questions about the process.

Addressing complex AI governance challenges requires many different skillsets and perspectives. We welcome applicants from a wide range of backgrounds. If our mission excites you, we encourage you to apply, even if your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed. Your unique combination of experience and motivation might be exactly what we’re looking for.