The Seldon Fellowship

Launch your AI assurance startup from the ground up. The Seldon Fellowship is designed for ambitious individuals who are committed to building startups solving the hardest problems in AI safety, security, and ethical deployment. Unlike our accelerator program which supports teams with existing traction, the fellowship puts visionary individuals at the pre-founding stage on track to raise their pre-seed or seed round.

Apply for the Fellowship

Program Overview

Applications are now open for our Q2 2025 cohort. We accept a carefully curated group of fellows to ensure personalized attention and maximum impact. The fellowship runs for approximately 6 months, during which we work closely with each fellow to develop their idea, find potential co-founders, and prepare for successful fundraising.

For fellows who successfully demonstrate a scalable business model during the program, there are high chances of receiving investment through our accelerator program. We take a low single-digit equity percentage for participation in the fellowship program.

Our goal is to help each fellow raise a pre-seed or seed round within 12 months of joining the program.

What We Offer

Focused Support

  • Work alongside mentors, technical experts, and investors who understand what is at stake with AI
  • Get access to our Bay Area office—a space designed for building big ideas
  • Find your perfect co-founder through our curated network of potential founders
  • Access proven resources like our AIS Navigator and startup templates to get off the ground fast

A Community That Matters

  • Join a global network of founders and researchers working to make AI safe and beneficial for society
  • Meet in person at exclusive events designed to bring everyone together, swap insights, and push ideas forward
  • Lifetime access to our AI safety network and resources

Who Should Apply

This fellowship is for you if:

  • You’re an ambitious individual committed to founding an AI safety startup
  • You have strong technical, research, or domain expertise in AI
  • You have compelling ideas but are still at the pre-founding stage
  • You don’t yet have a co-founder or fully formed team
  • You’re ready to dedicate yourself full-time to building a company
  • You don’t need existing funding or traction - we support you from day zero

What We Look For

We’re particularly interested in individuals passionate about:

  • AGI deployment infrastructure
  • Safety-critical monitoring and oversight
  • Novel architectures for security and control
  • Assurance of robot system alignment
  • Technologies that prepare society for AI deployment

Program Structure

Our 6-month program emphasizes both technical excellence and founder development:

  • Complete focus on developing and validating your idea
  • Regular sessions with successful AI company founders
  • Access to our network of AI labs and enterprises
  • Hands-on support with problem validation and solution development
  • Deep integration with the broader AI safety ecosystem
  • Co-founder matching through our exclusive network

Why Focus on AI Assurance?

AI is rewriting the rules of life and business at breakneck speed, but the risks are keeping pace. Making sure AI is safe, secure, and aligned is a trillion-dollar problem and it is one of the most important opportunities of our time.

At Seldon, we’re building the ecosystem to meet this challenge. Whether you’re developing scalable safety solutions, interpretability tools, or frameworks for robust evaluation, this is where you get the resources and connections to go from idea to impact.

How to Apply

  1. Submit your application through this form
  2. Our technical and investment teams will review your application with a focus on both potential impact on AI safety and commercial viability
  3. If your application shows promise, we’ll invite you for in-depth discussions with our team

Timeline

  • Q2 2025: First cohort begins
  • October 2025: Second cohort begins
  • April 2026: Third cohort begins

Ready to start? Apply to the Seldon Fellowship today. Work with us, use our tools, meet the people who can make a difference, and start building. The future isn’t waiting, and neither should you.

Apply Here