AICRAFT: DARPA-Funded AI Alignment Researchers — Applications Open

TL;DR: We hypothesize that most alignment researchers have more ideas than they have engineering bandwidth to test. AICRAFT is a DARPA-funded project that pairs researchers with a fully managed professional engineering team for two-week pilot sprints, designed specifically for high-risk ideas that might otherwise go untested. We will select 6 applicants and execute a 2 week pilot with each, the most promising pilot may be given a 3 month extension. This is the first MVP for engaging DARPA directly with the alignment community to our knowledge, and if successful can catalyze government scale investment in alignment R&D. Apply here.

Applications close March 27, 2026 at 11 PM PST.

What is AICRAFT?

AICRAFT (Artificial Intelligence Control Research Amplification & Framework for Talent) is a DARPA-funded seedling project executed by AE Studio. The premise is straightforward: we hypothesize that alignment research could progress faster if the best researchers had more leverage. We believe that researchers currently are bottlenecked on either execution (i.e. they are doing the hands-on experiments themselves) or management (i.e. they are managing teams that are executing the work). Management is higher leverage but what if we could push that much [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) AICRAFT: DARPA-Funded AI Alignment Researchers -- Applications Open

(01:08) What is AICRAFT?

(02:49) The Bigger Picture

(03:56) Who should apply?

(04:26) How it works

(05:21) The application

(06:11) FAQ

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First published:
March 16th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/nmMdtZveC38atLnDm/aicraft-darpa-funded-ai-alignment-researchers-applications

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“AICRAFT: DARPA-Funded AI Alignment Researchers — Applications Open” by Mike Vaiana, Diogo de Lucena, Judd Rosenblatt