A five-week reading group in Cambridge for people considering a career in AI safety.
We'll contact you when applications open.
You can apply without prior AI safety experience.
The Alignment Fellowship is our main programme for undergraduates and postgraduates at the University of Cambridge, and it is also open to professionals considering AI safety as a career. It is designed to help you move into work on AI safety, with support for your next steps once the five weeks are over.
Each week you'll meet a small group of people with backgrounds similar to yours to work through the readings and discuss them. The readings cover the arguments for existential risk from powerful AI systems, the technical and governance approaches people are taking to reduce it, and what you could do about it.
You'll choose one of two tracks when you apply, depending on your background and interests.
Best suited to people with a background in computer science, mathematics, physics or other quantitative fields.
What you'll cover
Best suited to people interested in policy, international relations, law or the political economy of technology.
What you'll cover
You'll get one-on-one coaching to help you work out your next steps in AI safety.
We organise trips to London for AI safety socials and office visits, including the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA).
You'll join our referral database, which we use to connect fellows with people looking to hire in AI safety.
We want technical fellows to tackle these problems head on, so we'll give you compute to run your own experiments.
The CAISH Alignment Fellowship serves as an excellent primer on a number of topics critical to AI safety. … If you’re looking to better understand the critical risks posed to the world by the rapid development of frontier AI and the best thinking about potential solutions, the Alignment Fellowship is the right place for you.
Carter Harrison Rogers
MPhil in Politics and International Relations
Governance fellow, Lent 2026
I completed the Policy & Governance track of the Alignment Fellowship in Winter 2025 and it has been the most important single thing I have done to get started in AI Safety. … CAISH also provided an invaluable network of like-minded early-stage AI Safety Practitioners, and having these connections has also been really useful as I prepare my own career transition.
Angharad Derbyshire
PhD in Classics
Policy & Governance fellow, Winter 2025
The programme was very discussion-heavy, which I really appreciated: talking my thoughts through with others helped me build real clarity around my views and ideas.
Alina Timoshkina
Master's in Finance and Accounting, now at Entrepreneur First
Fellow, Lent 2026
We invest significant time and resources into each cohort, including one-on-one career coaching and support for your next steps. In return, we ask that you invest too.
Each week has core readings and optional deeper dives. Come ready to work through the core readings during the session.
Attend the weekly sessions and take an active part in the discussion. We want you to ask questions and share your thinking.
We're looking for people who see AI safety as a plausible career option. The fellowship is a chance to explore whether it could be a good fit for you and how you might contribute.
Now a senior manager on the AI safety team at Faculty
Technical fellow, Lent 2026
Now an XLab fellow at the University of Chicago
Governance fellow, Lent 2026
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Governance Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
Technical Track
No prior AI safety experience is required. Choose the technical or governance track based on your background and interests.
No, there are no fees associated with the Alignment Fellowship.
Yes. The Alignment Fellowship is hosted in-person in Cambridge, UK. We expect almost all applicants to already be based in either Cambridge or London.
For London-based participants, we may be able to cover travel expenses from London to Cambridge if it would otherwise prohibit you from joining the programme.
We expect participants to commit roughly 3–5 hours per week to readings, discussions and assignments.
When applying, we will ask you for your availability. Weekly meeting times will be finalised in the weeks leading up to the first session. We will choose times that maximise the number of participants able to attend.
The application has two stages. Throughout, we're most interested in how you think.
The strongest applicants engage carefully with the arguments and are conscientious. Each session depends on everyone arriving having done the readings and ready to discuss them.
You'll read a paper or blog post on AI safety and write a short essay responding to it. We'll also ask why you want to join the fellowship.
This is a chance for us to get to know you and hear how you think out loud. Some questions cover AI safety, and others are about you.
The fellowship is open to Cambridge undergraduates and postgraduates in any subject, and to professionals in Cambridge.