“In the end, AI reflects the principles of the people who build it, the people who use it, and the data upon which it is built.” - AI Executive Order
As new and rapidly advancing LLMs and other AI models are released, the government has a key role in establishing reliable and reproducible evaluation criteria to allow government, private industry, and the public to assess these powerful technologies.
This has unleashed urgent work across the federal government. Our Congressional Innovation Fellows have been lending their expertise on these developing models to lawmakers in real time. Now, TechCongress is announcing a one-time, 12-month AI Safety Fellowship for fellows to serve in AI Safety roles in key executive branch offices.
Fellows will be selected for technical expertise, commitment to societal implications of technology, and potential for leadership in AI policy by an independent selection board and will be evaluated with an application process that removes names and other identifying characteristics to mitigate bias. Agency placements will be determined at the time of offer, based on applicants technical skills and work experience. The possibilities include: Commerce, State, Homeland, and Energy.
The program offers fellows an opportunity to be an early voice contributing to AI research and policy implementation that will have nation-wide impact. It also offers the executive agencies a time-bound proof of concept for the value of headcount and expertise dedicated to AI safety.
Why this program for TechCongress?
I know “congress” is in our name, but…
Our mission is to support the government and catalyze investments in technical skills and knowledge. This is a one-time program to serve as a stopgap and demonstrate the need to hire tech experts across the government. It’s our first time operating a program in the executive branch and we will not run this program again.
This proof of concept model is familiar ground for TechCongress. In 2020 we launched our Congressional Digital Service fellowship– an urgent moment to help Congress transition to digital operations and build proof of concept for a permanent digital service office, which was successful! The House created and funded its own Digital Service in-house. It is the first digital service in a legislature in the United States. This is another such moment, during which we can help propel permanent public interest tech expertise in government.
Why is this program for you?
If you want to learn more…
The stipend for the program is $190k annually and fellows will likely begin between August and September. We have FAQs available on the application site.
This fellowship will almost certainly require you to work in a federal office in D.C. or San Francisco. Remote participation may be possible at the discretion of partner agencies, but that will be determined at the offer stage. If you are unable or unwilling to work from one of these offices, it may affect your candidacy for the fellowship.
AI Safety efforts will be incredibly consequential in the future and this is an opportunity to build these entities from the ground up. Please consider applying (and note that we will be offering the Diversity Referral Award for our AI Safety Fellows)!
P.S. Applications for our January 2025 Congressional Innovation Fellowship will be opening on July 9th. You can sign up here to stay in the loop about those developments.