OpenAI Commits $7.5 Million to Global Fund for Independent AI Safety Research
As AI capabilities continue to advance rapidly, OpenAI maintains that “AI resilience” depends on a robust and diverse research community pursuing complementary approaches to safety.
RMN Digital AI Desk
New Delhi | February 23, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO – In a move to diversify the field of artificial intelligence safety, OpenAI has announced a $7.5 million (£5.6 million) grant to The Alignment Project, a global fund dedicated to independent research into mitigating the risks of misaligned AI.
The grant, announced on February 19, 2026, supports an initiative created by the UK AI Security Institute (UK AISI). With OpenAI’s contribution, the total fund for The Alignment Project now exceeds £27 million, making it one of the largest dedicated efforts for independent alignment research to date.
Strengthening the Independent Ecosystem
While frontier labs like OpenAI focus on alignment research that requires massive compute and access to advanced models, the company emphasized that ensuring Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is safe cannot be achieved by a single organization.
“A healthy alignment ecosystem depends on independent teams testing diverse assumptions, developing alternative frameworks, and exploring conceptual, theoretical, and blue-sky ideas that may not align neatly with any one organization’s roadmap,” the company stated.
Also Read:
[ Sam Altman “Confused” as India’s AI Ambitions Face “Identity Crisis” and Leadership Scrutiny ]
[ From Novel to Transmedia IP: Robojit’s AI-Assisted Production Pipeline ]
[ India’s AI Identity Crisis: Mirage of Progress ]
This investment is designed to provide a “safety net” for the industry. If current dominant methods for training AI do not scale as expected, the foundational and uncorrelated work performed by independent researchers will become critical to solving the alignment problem.
Diverse Research and Funding Details
The Alignment Project is managed by the UK AISI, a government research organization within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The fund targets a wide array of disciplines, including:
- Computational complexity and information theory
- Economic and game theory
- Cognitive science
- Cryptography
Individual research projects are typically awarded between £50,000 and £1 million. In addition to financial backing, some researchers may receive optional access to expert support and compute resources.
Collaborative Oversight
OpenAI clarified that its funding will not influence the selection process for which projects receive grants. Instead, the money will be used to increase the number of high-quality, already-vetted projects that can be funded in the current round.
The UK AISI was chosen to lead the effort due to its established coalition of government, academic, and industry partners, as well as its existing mandate to focus on serious AI risks. Renaissance Philanthropy is also providing administrative support for the grant.
As AI capabilities continue to advance rapidly, OpenAI maintains that “AI resilience” depends on a robust and diverse research community pursuing complementary approaches to safety.
