Announcing Cosmos Ventures
Fast grants to build provocative prototypes at the intersection of technology and human flourishing
The Cosmos Institute aims to forge an optimistic philosophy of technology, steering beyond dystopian risks and accelerationist transhumanism (watch our mission video here). To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we focus on transforming philosophical concepts into tangible realities that can scale from zero to one.
To advance this mission, we are excited to launch Cosmos Ventures, the experimental arm of the Cosmos Institute. Cosmos Ventures supports builders and thinkers in exploring how technology can enhance human flourishing. It operates on a flexible funding model of small grants designed to incubate innovative prototypes, essays, and projects that delve into themes such as reason, decentralization, and human autonomy.
Our grants support a wide range of exploratory mediums—from essays to proofs of concept to scientific research. We are particularly interested in the social, political, and philosophical implications of AI.
We are proud to introduce our inaugural cohort of Cosmos Venture grantees—exceptional individuals who embody the Cosmos vision, spanning technologists, philosophers, artists, and scientists, united by their big ideas and commitment to human flourishing.
Cosmos Ventures Inaugural Cohort
Matthew Siu: Ex-Midjourney interface researcher exploring new ways to interact with intelligent systems through novel methods in mechanistic interpretability.
Michael Garfield: Ex-Santa Fe Institute and Long Now Foundation, launching a multimedia series on agency in an automated world and how to master “magical technologies.”
William Morgan: Founder of Restless Egg Studio and Berkeley graduate student designing a "Market Turing Test" to measure AI against the "mind" of the market, challenging the socialist calculation debate.
Jad Esber: Founder of koodos labs and Harvard Berkman Klein affiliate, researching personal data management and building agentic cultural products.
Rocco Hu: Oxford-trained philosopher and computer scientist developing a computational theory of virtue ethics to embed ethical reasoning in both human and AI systems.
Erik Bordeleau: Researcher in cinema and philosophy building The Sphere, a decentralized AI-driven commons for preserving live arts and collective memory.
Bohan Lou: Technologist who studied CS and religion at Yale, interviewing top thinkers on how philosophy and religion can shape AGI to align with human values.
Aishwarya Khanduja: Worked on clinical AI systems as University of Cambridge grad student, building an engine to approach wicked problems as infinite games.
Nadia Asparaouhova and Tim Hwang: Substack employee #2 and author of OSS book (Nadia), with ex-Google AI policy lead (Tim), hosting seminar to dissect the hidden ideology of Silicon Valley.
Alfaxad Eyembe: Engineering student creating ALFA, an open-source simulation platform for bio-inspired AI swarms, advancing complex system modeling.
Case Miller: Creative director developing Supervisor, a multiplayer, multi-agent tool for real-time idea organization on an infinite collaborative canvas.
Wendi Yan and Will Freudenheim: Artists developing Biotopy, a game where players grow real organisms, merging science and art through biotic gameplay.
Gary Zhexi Zhang: Artist and writer exploring “art after technology” in a new essay series on how aesthetic forms evolve with accelerating 21st-century challenges.
Johnathan Bi: Ex-math olympiad and Columbia CS and philosophy grad, creating a lecture series on the Great Books, bridging classical wisdom with modern tech and societal issues.
Charles Yang: Former ML engineer turned policymaker exploring how AI narratives threaten human agency and progress, with a critique of automation narratives.
Fuzuli Shirazi: Technologist writing about what LLMs reveal about meaning through language.
Jason Crawford: Progress movement leader, writing The Techno-humanist Manifesto and running a fellowship to train the next generation of AI-focused public intellectuals.
Jake Birdwell: Studied philosophy and geopolitics at Oxford and Stanford, now AI at Palantir, creating an AI-driven digital wargaming platform to enhance infrastructure resilience during conflicts.
Paul Diduch: Faculty Director, Engineering Leadership Program, at the University of Colorado-Boulder, for research on the intellectual origins of technology.
Apply Now
Whether you're building an unconventional prototype, pursuing an experimental project, or crafting a thought-provoking essay, we’re eager to support those who seek to extend the arc of human flourishing, especially by advancing reason, decentralization, and human autonomy.
We are now accepting applications through Friday, November 1st [now closed] for the next cohort of Cosmos Ventures. We’re excited to see where your vision leads!
- Jason Zhao, Zoe Weinberg, Alex Komoroske, Darren Zhu, and the Cosmos team
Fascinating to see philosophy holding all these tensions, great initiative.
I submitted an application, but I didn't receive a confirmation e-mail. Is there a way to check that everything went through? Thanks!