Cooperative AI Foundation
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersEngland, Germany
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
Cooperative AI Foundation firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cooperative AI Foundation
- Legal name
- Cooperative AI Foundation
- Website
- https://cooperativeai.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cooperative AI Foundation industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Safety Research Funding
- NAICS
- Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Responsible AI, AI Governance & Compliance Services (BPAEAHAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Regulatory Readiness & Audit Automation (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001) (HDAAAMAE)
Keywords
Where Cooperative AI Foundation is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- England
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cooperative AI Foundation business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Philanthropic Funding: The foundation is funded through philanthropic donations and grants. It received a $15 million initial commitment from Macroscopic Ventures to establish the foundation. Additional funding comes from Schmidt Sciences, Google.org, and other partners for specific initiatives.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Tier 1 grants for multi-agent safety research |
| Other | Multi-year contract | Tier 2 grants for multi-agent safety research |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels8 records
Cooperative AI Foundation product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cooperative AI Foundation is a charitable research foundation that funds, supports, and convenes academic research on cooperative intelligence in advanced AI. It awards research grants and PhD fellowships, hosts workshops at major ML conferences, runs seminar series and summer schools, and commissions benchmark environments and educational curriculum to advance multi-agent safety and cooperative AI for the benefit of all.
Product overview
The Cooperative AI Foundation is a charitable research organization backed by a $15 million philanthropic commitment from Macroscopic Ventures, supporting research that will improve the cooperative intelligence of advanced AI for the benefit of all. The Foundation operates as a platform of interconnected research and educational programs rather than a single unified product. Its portfolio includes the Cooperative AI PhD Fellowship offering financial support to graduate researchers; the $10m Multi-Agent Safety Fund providing substantial research grants for studying AI agent interaction risks; the Updates in Cooperative AI Seminar Series hosting frontier researchers; the annual Cooperative AI Summer School for early-career professionals; research competitions including the Concordia Contest and Melting Pot Contest; workshops at major ML conferences; and a comprehensive educational curriculum covering cooperative AI fundamentals. The Foundation also supports the Africa-based Cooperative AI Research Fellowship and provides direct research grants to investigators addressing cooperative AI challenges.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cooperative AI PhD Fellowship
- $10m Multi-Agent Safety Fund
- Updates in Cooperative AI Seminar Series
- Cooperative AI Summer School
- Concordia Contest
- Melting Pot Contest
- Cooperative AI Curriculum
- Cooperative AI Research Fellowship
Quantifiable outcome
- 14 PhD fellows selected in 2026 from 240 applications (35% increase in applicants)
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Cooperative AI Foundation
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cooperative AI Foundation technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Cooperative AI Foundation partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Google DeepMindcoreCo-partner in the $10m multi-agent safety funding initiative. Google DeepMind is an AI research laboratory and provides technical expertise alongside funding.
- AI Safety South AfricacorePartner organization that ran Africa's first Cooperative AI Research Fellowship in Cape Town. AI Safety South Africa drove the project and provided research management.
- Principles of Intelligence (PrincInt)coreCollaboration partner in the Africa Cooperative AI Research Fellowship, contributing to the project's research oversight.
- The AI Initiative at University of Cape TowncoreAcademic partner in the Africa Cooperative AI Research Fellowship, hosting the closing showcase at UCT.
- PIBBSS FellowshipcorePartnership with Principles of Intelligent Behavior in Biological and Social Systems to support early-career researchers through the PIBBSS Fellowship Cooperative AI Track.
- MATS ProgramcorePartnership with ML Alignment & Theory Scholars Program to provide funding for researchers eligible to attend MATS programs focused on AI alignment and cooperative AI.
- LambdasupportingGPU compute provider for the Africa Cooperative AI Research Fellowship.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Cooperative AI Foundation competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI): Independent AI governance research organization with overlapping board membership (Allan Dafoe serves as President of GovAI and as a CAIF trustee). Both organizations fund research at the intersection of AI capability and societal governance, making them directly comparable in mission and constituency.
- MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute): Long-standing AI safety research non-profit focused on alignment and existential risk from advanced AI. Comparable to CAIF as a grantmaking and research-convening organization in the AI safety space, though MIRI emphasizes theoretical alignment while CAIF focuses on multi-agent cooperation.
- Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI): UC Berkeley-based AI safety research center led by Stuart Russell. Directly comparable to CAIF as a research organization producing academic outputs on AI alignment and human-AI cooperation, with overlapping researcher networks and conference presence.
- Future of Life Institute (FLI): Non-profit focused on reducing existential risk from transformative technologies, with major AI safety grantmaking and policy advocacy. Comparable to CAIF as a grantmaker and convener in the AI safety ecosystem, though FLI operates at larger scale across broader existential risk categories.
Broad incumbents
- Open Philanthropy: Large-scale philanthropic foundation that has been the dominant funder of AI safety research, including direct grants to CAIF-aligned researchers and organizations. A much larger incumbent funder operating in the same donor space, providing both grants and field-shaping funding decisions comparable to CAIF's role.
Emerging players
- MATS Program (ML Alignment & Theory Scholars): Research training program for early-career AI alignment researchers. CAIF explicitly funds MATS scholars through a partnership, and the two programs share an applicant pool and mentorship network, making them partial-overlap peers in the AI safety talent funnel.
- PIBBSS Fellowship: Fellowship program for early-career researchers studying principles of intelligent behavior in biological and social systems. CAIF runs a Cooperative AI track within PIBBSS, making them directly comparable as emerging programs developing the next generation of cooperative AI researchers.
Others
- ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency): UK government R&D funding agency co-funding CAIF's $10M multi-agent safety program. ARIA is a comparable mission-driven research funder though at national scale and across all scientific domains rather than AI-specific.
- Schmidt Sciences: Philanthropic organization of Eric Schmidt funding unconventional science and AI safety research. Co-funder of CAIF's $10M multi-agent safety initiative; comparable as a peer philanthropic institution funding adjacent AI safety work, including the AI2050 Senior Fellows program.
- Survival and Flourishing Fund: Grantmaking non-profit funding AI safety and existential risk reduction research. Directly comparable as a peer grantmaker funding AI safety researchers; co-funded CAIF's Africa Cooperative AI Research Fellowship.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cooperative AI Foundation social profiles
Digital presenceCooperative AI Foundation financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cooperative AI Foundation leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
Cooperative AI Foundation funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Cooperative AI Foundation M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about Cooperative AI Foundation
What does Cooperative AI Foundation do?
Cooperative AI Foundation is a charitable research foundation that funds, supports, and convenes academic research on cooperative intelligence in advanced AI. It awards research grants and PhD fellowships, hosts workshops at major ML conferences, runs seminar series and summer schools, and commissions benchmark environments and educational curriculum to advance multi-agent safety and cooperative AI for the benefit of all.
Is Cooperative AI Foundation a public or private company?
Cooperative AI Foundation is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Cooperative AI Foundation founded?
Cooperative AI Foundation was founded in 2022. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Cooperative AI Foundation based?
Cooperative AI Foundation is headquartered in England, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Cooperative AI Foundation make money?
One revenue line is on record: philanthropic Funding.
Who are Cooperative AI Foundation's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI), MIRI (Machine Intelligence Research Institute), Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI) and Future of Life Institute (FLI). Open Philanthropy is listed as a broad incumbent. Emerging players are MATS Program (ML Alignment & Theory Scholars) and PIBBSS Fellowship. Others are ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency), Schmidt Sciences and Survival and Flourishing Fund.
Does Cooperative AI Foundation have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cooperative AI Foundation.
What industry is Cooperative AI Foundation in?
Cooperative AI Foundation's product category is AI Safety Research Funding. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEAHAJ, Responsible AI, AI Governance & Compliance Services, with a secondary code of EDADAHAC, Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts. Its NAICS code is 813211.