Job description
Principles of Intelligence • Cape Town, South Africa
PIBBSS Fellowship
A ~3-month interdisciplinary program connecting researchers with AI safety mentors.
Work on projects at the intersection of your field and AI safety. This program focuses on selecting excellent researchers and matching them with mentors suited to their experience and goals. The program is targeted toward those with research experience, coming from diverse fields, looking to transition into AI safety.
Duration: ~3 months (November 2026- February 2027) Cohort: ~20 fellows Stipend: $3,000/month + accommodation provided Location: Cape Town, South Africa (in-person, remote for exceptional candidates)73
alumni placed in government, AI safety labs, and universities
Our alumni work as independent researchers and in:Applications for the 2026-2027 Winter fellowship are closed.
Expression of Interest for future opportunities Program Structure & Benefits Post-AGI Civilisation Dynamics / Gradual Disempowerment track Who Should Apply Application ProcessProgram Structure & Benefits
The fellowship includes:
- Pre-program reading group on AI risks (remote)
- Multi-day opening and closing retreat with cohort and AI safety researchers
- 3 month full-time research with dedicated mentor
- Shared office space with regular speaker talks and community events
- Final symposium presentation in Spring 2027
Financial support:
- $3,000/month stipend (full-time commitment)
- Accommodation provided: Private bedroom for each attendee (may be in a shared apartment)
- Workday meals provided at the office (lunch, dinner, snacks)
- One return flight for Cape Town, South Africa
- Short-term visa support letters available
Past fellows have gone on to positions at AI safety labs, UK AISI, academia, and independent research.
View talks from previous cohorts on our YouTube page.
For questions, reach out at [email protected] or view the recording of the last info session here.
Passcode: k=E..#0n
Questions raised during info sessions are included in the Fellowship Application FAQs below.
Post-AGI Civilisation Dynamics / Gradual Disempowerment track
This year, we’re offering a Gradual Disempowerment track for up to 4 Fellows, made possible by ACS Research. The track is about understanding what happens to human civilization as the systems it runs on — the economy, culture, state — gradually stop depending on human participation, and about finding the equilibria in which humans still retain meaningful agency.
Possible topics include:
- Post-AGI Economics
- Modelling the economy while relaxing some classical assumptions, e.g. that capital stays mostly human-owned, that humans remain the main consumers, that human labour matters economically, that property rights hold, etc. See e.g. Post-AGI Economics As If Nothing Ever Happens.
- Economic models of historical cases where a group’s economic relevance and political power came apart (fall of aristocracies, company rule in India), or the relationship between labour share and freedom and democracy.
- Post-AGI Culture
- Modelling what changes when machines become the dominant substrate on which ideas are created, spread, and mutated, using tools from cultural evolution, epidemiology, and parasitology. See e.g. Xhosa prophecies or persona parasitology
- Post-AGI Governance
- How will AI reshape global governance? How can we maintain meaningful human involvement in decision-making when AI alternatives are more efficient?
Who might this be a good fit for? We especially welcome:
- economists willing to take the ideas above seriously,
- theorists with understanding of cultural evolution and theoretical evolutionary biology, or
- polymaths comfortable working across multiple disciplines.
Relevant backgrounds include political science, mechanism design, game theory, history, philosophy, complex systems, machine learning, sociology, cultural evolution, and law.
For reference, see also Gradual Disempowerment or Post-AGI workshop talks.
Who Should Apply
The fellowship is for researchers motivated to contribute to AI safety with expertise in fields studying complex and intelligent systems.
Relevant fields include but are not limited to:
- Mathematics
- Neuroscience and cognitive science
- Dynamical systems theory
- Physics
- Philosophy (particularly philosophy of science, mind, or ethics)
- Political and economic theory
- Ecology and evolutionary biology
- Linguistics
- Media studies
- Humanities
While aimed at PhD and postdoctoral researchers, we welcome applicants with substantial research experience regardless of credentials. We accept applicants from all countries.
You do not need a specific project in mind when applying. We help match fellows with mentors and develop projects during the interview process.
Application Process
Applications for the 2026-2027 Winter fellowship are now open. The process includes:
Stage 1: Written application- CV/résumé
- Personal statement (600-800 words on research background and motivation)
- Past work samples (optional but recommended)
Multiple interview rounds to discuss research interests, develop project proposals, and match with mentors.
Fellowship Application FAQs
What kinds of research backgrounds are a good fit?
A wide range. PIBBSS looks for research independence, excellence, and strong thinking/writing, not one specific discipline . Applicants from economics, philosophy, interpretability, theoretical math, governance, and other fields have all been considered.
Do I need prior AI safety experience?
No. AI safety expertise is not required.
Do I need a PhD?
No. A PhD is not required, but we are looking for something like PhD-level research ability or equivalent independent work experience.
Do I need published papers?
No. What matters is evidence that you can do independent work and communicate clearly.
Is coding experience required?
No. Coding is not mandatory, and many fellows do not know how to code.
Do I need to have a clear project idea before applying?
No. More than half of fellows do not apply with a clear project idea but develop one in collaboration with a mentor. It is fine to apply with strong skills, curiosity, and a promising lens.
Is there special interest in Global South applicants?
Yes. Cape Town was chosen partly to make the program more accessible to people who would find it challenging to attend in London or the Bay Area.
Is the fellowship remote-friendly?
Generally no. The fellowship is primarily in person, and remote participation is allowed only in truly exceptional cases, roughly about one person per cohort.
Is part-time participation possible?
No. This is a full-time fellowship.
What are the application work tasks like?
Work tasks are designed to assess research-relevant skills. Examples included: writing a research proposal, analyzing papers, or critiquing scientific writing. No special preparation is required as the work tasks are aimed at testing abilities the applicant already possesses.
When do work tasks happen, and do they have to be done that week?
Work tasks happen in late July and generally must be completed within that particular week, though accommodations may be considered on a case by case basis.
What should I submit as writing samples?
Writing samples should show how you express yourself and how you think: papers, unpublished drafts, blog posts, newspaper articles, and similar writing are all acceptable examples.
Are writing samples required?
No. They are optional. However, the fellowship receives hundreds of applications, and work samples can strengthen your application.
Can GitHub repositories or code count as writing samples?
Yes, to prove your coding ability, but not your research ability. You should then have a different method of displaying your research ability in the application.
How should I structure the personal statement?
The form already includes sub-questions, and the best approach is to answer those directly.
How does mentor matching work?
After interviews, PIBBSS staff will identify mentors based on the fellow’s interests and goals. Fellows typically do 2–3 mentor interviews, then mentors and fellows both submit preference lists, and matching is completed based on preference ranking.
How much time do mentors typically spend with each fellow?
The expectation is at least one hour per week, though it varies by mentor.
What is the mentoring style like?
Flexible. Some mentors are more hands-on, others are light-touch. Research management style depends on what works for the fellow and the mentor.
Are technical or empirical AI safety projects welcome, or is the focus more social/governance work?
Both, plus theoretical or philosophical work. The fellowship has supported work ranging from sparse autoencoders and mechanistic interpretability to philosophy, economics, and governance, to meta-level work etc.
What happens after the fellowship?
There is no single path. Alumni have: gone back to academia, started labs or orgs, joined existing safety labs, or pursued other roles and research directions.
Who should not apply?
This program may not be the right fit if:
1. You are looking for part-time projects. This fellowship is a full-time commitment and cannot be pursued in parallel to other fellowship programs or jobs. If you are applying for other programs or opportunities in parallel to the PIBBSS fellowship, please disclose that in your application.
2. Your project idea is focused on introductory research or addressing short-term/operational issues. This fellowship encourages a focus on long-term, foundational questions.
3. You aren’t comfortable communicating complex ideas in English. This fellowship involves a high level of collaboration and written communication, so a strong command of spoken and written English is essential for participation.
Alexandre Variengien
Independent Researcher, ex-Technology Specialist at the EU AI Office
The PIBBSS fellowship was a great environment to do research. I found the research strategy coaching provided by the PrincInt team very beneficial, and I particularly enjoyed bouncing ideas around with the other fellows.Magdalena Wache
Researcher at Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology
PrincInt provided me an incredibly open and supportive environment to start thinking about AI safety and related topics, and fostered an environment where a broad range of ideas were welcomed and encouraged. My work and research direction has been strongly shaped by my experience with PrincInt and I still enjoy the community formed during my time with them.Nischal Mainali
PhD candidate in computational neuroscience in Burak Lab
PrincInt is one of the few communities (carefully designed and cultivated) to be truly interdisciplinary in all the ways that are relevant to long-term AI safety. If you’re wondering how the brain compares to modern foundation models, you will be in good company. If you want to understand how law and policy can adapt to mitigate near and long-term harms from AI, you will find instructive collaboration here. If you want to investigate how AI’s behavior compares to human cognitive tendencies and fallacies, or even other forms of biological and social intelligence, you will find expertise in each of these domains at PrincInt. The exciting interdisciplinary ideas and community sparked by the PrincInt environment is uncommon and so necessary for truly impactful AI safety research. The long-term answers for AI safety will come from a coming together of these fields, and PrincInt is one of the few environments that is designed to help us get there.2025 PIBBSS Fellow
TimelineThe application deadline for the 2026-2027 Winter PIBBSS Fellowship was July 20, 2026.
Meet our 2026 Fellows
Principles of Intelligence brings together researchers, mentors, and advisors from diverse scientific backgrounds
View all past fellows and mentors PrincInt provided the perfect multidisciplinary environment and stimulating culture I needed to transition from neuroscience into AI alignment work. The program connects inspired fellows to tackle neglected and crucial problems, introducing me to the community and giving me the foundation to pursue impactful research in this field.Jan Kirchner
Researcher, Anthropic
PrincInt turned cross-disciplinary ideas into concrete alignment progress. The fellowship sharpened my research agenda, connected me with outstanding mentors, and led to publishable outputs and policy-relevant work.Joel Christoph
10Billion.org Founder, Japan-IMF Scholar & Economics PhD
The relationships I made and experiences I had as a PIBBSS fellow back in 2022 still influence how I think about my work and its impact years later. PrincInt helped me see how to bridge academic philosophy and AI safety research, which is a large part of how I try to make change.Daniel Alexander Herrmann
Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UNC Chapel Hill
PIBBSS effectively connects many relevant academic disciplines to alignment research and fosters an environment of genuine truth-seeking and understanding, setting a high epistemic bar for the field.Eleni Angelou
Oxford Centre for the Governance of AI winter 2026 fellow
The PIBBSS Fellowship played a key role in my transition from a PhD in Computer Science into AI Safety research. It allowed me to discover how my expertise could contribute to this field and to connect with a community that supported my next step as a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford.Agustín Martinez Suñé
Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford
PrincInt gave me my start in AI safety. The fellowship introduced me to a broad range of perspectives on AI alignment, and gave me the time, encouragement, and support I needed to develop my own AI governance ideas.Gabriel Weil
Assistant Professor at Touro University Law Center, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Institute for Law & AI