Funding and support to help you go full-time on AI safety and biosecurity.
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Career Transition Grants support people who are ready to spend a defined period working full-time on a transition into impactful AI safety or biosecurity work.
You might use the grant to:
We expect plans to change. What matters is that you can make progress, learn from evidence and produce something valuable even if your original path does not work.
This program is primarily for personal, full-time transitions. If your main request is to fund a discrete project, event or organisational activity, another BlueDot funding route may be a better fit. You can still apply if you are unsure—we will help route the request.
We look for concrete recent action—not only an intention to enter the field. This might include research, writing, technical work, policy work, organising, professional achievements or strong analogous work.
You do not need a conventional AI safety background, but we need enough evidence to judge your ability to carry out the proposed transition.
Your transition does not need to be impossible without BlueDot. We want to understand what funding would change: its timing, focus, ambition, quality or likelihood of happening.
Career plans rarely work exactly as expected. We look for people who can prioritise, identify important uncertainties, notice when an approach is failing and adapt without losing sight of the ultimate goal.
We fund transitions where success could plausibly contribute to reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI or biological threats. We want to understand the causal connection between the work you plan to do and the outcomes it could ultimately affect.
A fellowship grant that allows you to focus full-time on the transition.
Structured check-ins to review evidence, pressure-test decisions and adapt the plan when circumstances change.
Where useful and where we can help, we may introduce you to people who can provide relevant feedback, expertise or opportunities.
Connection with other people making serious transitions into AI safety and biosecurity.
This is not something to do alongside a full or part-time role.
Brief updates on what you produced, what evidence you gathered, what changed in your thinking, progress against milestones and any decisions you need to make.
Conversations with your BlueDot point of contact to assess progress, revisit important assumptions and decide whether to continue, change or narrow the plan.
A short report covering what you produced, what you learned, how your plans changed and what you will do next. We may also ask for a brief follow-up after the grant so we can improve future funding decisions.
The application takes around 45 minutes. You can prepare the main evidence before you begin.
Examples of relevant action, achievement or momentum that help us understand what you can do.
Links to your strongest relevant work, or an explanation of the analogous evidence we should consider.
The outputs, tests and decision points you expect during the transition.
How the proposed work could ultimately contribute to reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI or biological threats.
The amount and duration you are requesting, what it covers and what the funding would change.
Apply if you:• Are ready to work full-time on a personal transition• Can point to evidence of relevant ability or recent momentum• Have a plausible plan for producing work, testing a path or moving into a contribution• Can explain how success could contribute to reducing catastrophic risks from advanced AI or biological threats• Believe funding would meaningfully improve the transitionApplications are open to everyone. Prior participation in a BlueDot course or community is not required.
No. We do not require the transition to be literally impossible without BlueDot. We do want to understand what funding would change—for example, whether it lets you begin sooner, work full-time, take a more ambitious path or produce stronger evidence before making your next career decision.
Relevant AI safety or biosecurity work is the most useful evidence, but strong analogous work can also be informative. If you do not yet have a work sample, you may still apply; explain what other evidence we should use to assess your ability.
Rapid Grants are usually a better fit when you have a concrete project with specific costs—such as research, an event, travel, compute or tooling—and need up to $10,000. Career Transition Grants are for a period of full-time personal transition. If you are unsure, apply to the route that seems closest and we can redirect you.
Yes. We do not expect a fixed career plan or certainty about every step. We do expect a serious hypothesis, a way to test it and a plan that can produce useful work or information even if the original path does not work.
Please let us know. Any remaining funds would be returned to BlueDot.
Generally, no. For most people, a Master's or PhD isn't the most direct route to impactful AI safety or biosecurity work. There are exceptions. Mention it in your application if you think yours is one.
The grant is a fellowship grant in support of your AI safety or biosecurity transition. It is not a salary or a contract for services. BlueDot is a UK entity, so we don't issue W-2s or 1099s, and the agreement explicitly states there is no employment, worker, or contractor relationship between us.
We can't give tax advice, so please check the tax implications with a qualified advisor in your country.