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Speculation Grants (Survival and Flourishing Fund)
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This page describes a grant program from the Survival and Flourishing Fund, relevant to AI safety researchers and organizations seeking early-stage or speculative project funding.
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Summary
The Survival and Flourishing Fund's Speculation Grants program provides funding for early-stage, exploratory work related to existential risk reduction and long-term flourishing. It targets speculative or unconventional projects that may not yet meet the bar for larger grants but show potential for high impact. The program reflects a portfolio approach to philanthropic funding in the AI safety and existential risk space.
Key Points
- •Funds early-stage or speculative projects focused on existential risk reduction and long-term human flourishing
- •Designed for unconventional ideas that may not qualify for larger, more established grant programs
- •Part of SFF's broader philanthropic strategy to support a diverse range of approaches to existential safety
- •Reflects a high-risk, high-reward funding philosophy common in effective altruism-adjacent grant-making
- •Relevant to researchers and organizations seeking seed funding for novel AI safety or existential risk work
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Survival and Flourishing Fund | Organization | 59.0 |
1 FactBase fact citing this source
| Entity | Property | Value | As Of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survival and Flourishing Fund | Program Budget | $16 million | 2025 |
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Speculation Grants | Survival and Flourishing Fund
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Last updated: February 28th, 2025
Expedited grants outside of S-Process
SFF Speculation Grants are expedited grants organized by SFF outside of our grant-recommendation process (the S-Process ). "Speculators" are individuals with budgets to make these grants. Each Speculator's budget grows or increases with the settlement of budget adjustments that we call "impact futures" (explained further below). Currently, we have a total of ~40 Speculators, with a combined budget of approximately $20MM (up from $4MM initially). Our process and software infrastructure for funding these grants were co-designed by Andrew Critch and Oliver Habryka.
In order for an applicant to be guaranteed eligibility for consideration in an S-Process Grant Round, they must be awarded a Speculation Grant.
Here’s how it all works, in more detail:
How to request a Speculation Grant (application instructions)
To request a Speculation Grant, complete and submit the SFF Funding Rolling Application . Filling out this application submits a Speculation Grant Request for expedited funding as well as a request for consideration in the next S-Process Grant Round.
Submitting by the S-Process Grant Round deadline is required for Speculators to settle a Speculation Grant to you in the upcoming round, so your chances of receiving a Speculation Grant are improved by submitting early. See the SFF announcements page for grant round announcements and application information, including the deadline. You can still apply even if there is no currently open grant round.
How quickly are Speculation Grant requests evaluated?
Each Speculator is individually free to reach out to you and make a Speculation Grant (though they are expected to notify the other Speculators of their decisions), and in principle such a grant could be made as quickly as one week after the grant request. However, there is no fixed timeframe within which a decision will be made.
But what is a Speculation Grant?
Speculation Grants are expedited grants approved by a person called a "Speculator". Each Speculator has a limited budget for approving Speculation Grants (typically $400k). Each grant is evaluated for quality and entry in a subsequent S-Process Grant Round , and the Speculator's budget is then replenished by an amount depending on the quality of the grant.
Speculation Grants can be intended for grants that are somewhat time sensitive and cannot wait for a few months until the next SFF round distributes grants. Decisions may be made
as soon as one week after the Speculation Grant request is made,
as late as 14 d
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