About the Team

GovAI was founded to help decision-makers navigate the transition to a world with advanced AI. Our first research agenda, published in 2018, helped define and shape the nascent field of AI governance. Our team and affiliate community possess expertise in a wide variety of domains, including the impacts of AI on national security and great power competition, US-China relations, export control policy, corporate self-governance efforts, barriers to innovation, and AI regulation in the United States and other jurisdictions. 

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, the Senate, Department of Commerce, and Department of Homeland Security; for think tanks including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Center for a New American Security, and RAND; top AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind; universities including George Washington University, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Oxford; as well as the UK AI Security Institute and EU AI Office. 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 Coordinator 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 previous cohorts of UK Summer and Winter Fellows worked on here and 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; 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

We are interested in candidates from a broad set of political perspectives and professional backgrounds, including those with experience in government, academia, industry, or civil society. Relevant disciplines include political science, public policy, computer science, economics, history, sociology, philosophy, and law. There are no specific educational requirements for the role, although we expect that the most promising candidates will typically have relevant graduate study, research experience, or professional experience in related areas. 

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 advanced AI.

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Salary, Duration, Location, and Timing

Fellows will join us for three months in Washington, DC. We are currently considering two potential timings for the DC Fellowship: fall 2025 (September 15 to December 5, 2025) or winter 2026 (January 19 to April 10, 2026). Candidates will be asked to express a preference on the application form.

Fellows will receive a stipend of $18,000, plus support for traveling to DC. While in DC, we provide our fellows with lunch on weekdays and a desk in our DC office. This is intended to be a full-time and in-person role. Only candidates who have the right to work in the US are eligible to apply; we will not be sponsoring visas for this fellowship.

We realize that for senior professionals or academics, some of the above may present obstacles to your participation in the fellowship. For candidates with exceptional profiles, we are sometimes able to make accommodations. If you would like to discuss this option, please email our Head of Talent Development, Valerie Belu (valerie.belu@governance.ai) with a copy of your CV and a brief explanation of your requirements.

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‍How to Apply‍ and What to Expect

The application process consists of a written submission in the first round, a remote work test in the second round, and an interview in the final round. We expect to reach out to candidates for a brief (<30 minute) work test in May, offer interviews in June, and communicate final decisions to candidates in early July. Please feel free to reach out to recruitment@governance.ai if you would need a decision communicated earlier than the standard timeline (this may or may not be possible), or have questions about the application process.