Trace

Macroscopic Ventures

macroscopic.org · foundation · Center for Emerging Risk Research, CERR, Macroscopic, Polaris Ventures

Total granted
$132,000,000
Grants
49
Average size
$4,000,000
of 33 with a disclosed amount
Coverage
14%
itemized by recipient
Years active
2019–26

Grants over time

$0$20M$40M$60M$80M20192020202120222023202420252026

Biggest cause areas

AI safety$91,400,00069%16
Other$19,800,00015%8
Animal welfare$19,800,00015%8
AI safety adjacent$1,000,0001%1

Biggest recipients

Cooperative AI Foundation$15,000,00011%5
Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab$3,000,0002%3
NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy$1,000,0001%1

Grants made

DateRecipientViaAmountCauseSourcePurpose
2026Unknown Recipients~$49,000,000*AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2026Unknown Recipients~$10,500,000*Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2026Unknown Recipients~$10,500,000*Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2025Unknown Recipients~$4,500,000Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2025Unknown Recipients~$18,000,000AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2025Unknown Recipients~$4,500,000Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2025Cooperative AI Foundation~$3,000,000AI safetymacroscopicSeed commitment to establish the Cooperative AI Foundation — Cooperative AI
May 2024NYU Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy$1,000,000AI welfaremacroscopicGift (as Polaris Ventures) toward the $6m CMEP Endowment Fund; research on consciousness, sentience, and the moral status of nonhumans including AI systems — AI welfare & sentience
2024Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab~$1,000,000§AI safetymacroscopicCommitment to establish the Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab (FOCAL) at Carnegie Mellon University, headed by Vincent Conitzer — Cooperative AI
2024Unknown Recipients~$1,500,000Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2024Cooperative AI Foundation~$3,000,000AI safetymacroscopicSeed commitment to establish the Cooperative AI Foundation — Cooperative AI
2024Unknown Recipients~$1,500,000Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2024Unknown Recipients~$2,000,000AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2023Unknown Recipients~$1,200,000*Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2023Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab~$1,000,000§AI safetymacroscopicCommitment to establish the Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab (FOCAL) at Carnegie Mellon University, headed by Vincent Conitzer — Cooperative AI
2023Unknown Recipients~$1,600,000*AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2023Cooperative AI Foundation~$3,000,000AI safetymacroscopicSeed commitment to establish the Cooperative AI Foundation — Cooperative AI
2023Unknown Recipients~$1,200,000*Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2022Unknown Recipients~$900,000*Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2022Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab~$1,000,000§AI safetymacroscopicCommitment to establish the Foundations of Cooperative AI Lab (FOCAL) at Carnegie Mellon University, headed by Vincent Conitzer — Cooperative AI
2022Unknown Recipients~$200,000*AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2022Cooperative AI Foundation~$3,000,000AI safetymacroscopicSeed commitment to establish the Cooperative AI Foundation — Cooperative AI
2022Unknown Recipients~$900,000*Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2021Unknown Recipients~$500,000*AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2021Unknown Recipients~$750,000*Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2021Centre for the Governance of AI, Inc.AI governance, policy, and advocacyorg_reportedand the Center for Emerging Risk Research
2021Unknown Recipients~$750,000*Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2021Cooperative AI Foundation~$3,000,000AI safetymacroscopicSeed commitment to establish the Cooperative AI Foundation — Cooperative AI
2020Unknown Recipients~$1,400,000*AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2020Unknown Recipients~$300,000*Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2020Unknown Recipients~$300,000*Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
2019Unknown Recipients~$700,000*AI safetyfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — AI safety
2019Unknown Recipients~$150,000*Otherfund_estimatesAggregate estimate — other causes
2019Unknown Recipients~$150,000*Animal welfarefund_estimatesAggregate estimate — animal welfare
Intelligence Security LaboratoriesOthermacroscopicImplementation-driven R&D for high-security AI systems, bridging theoretical security research and practical deployment — AI security research
MyriasAnimal welfaremacroscopicIncubating interventions against large neglected sources of animal suffering — Animal welfare
Arq FoundationAI governance, policy, and advocacymacroscopicPreparing Europe for transformative AI, including the Europe 2031 scenario project — AI governance
Simon Institute for Longterm GovernanceInternational governancemacroscopicInternational governance of frontier AI — International AI governance
Eleos AIAI welfaremacroscopicResearch on potential sentience and wellbeing of AI systems — AI welfare & sentience
ETH AI CenterOthermacroscopicAI fellowship program for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, via the ETH Zurich Foundation — General
Longview PhilanthropyTechnical governancemacroscopicSupport for the hardware-enabled mechanisms request for proposals — Technical AI governance
Rethink PrioritiesOther existential riskmacroscopicCross-cause research including animal welfare, global catastrophic risks, and AI — General
Longview PhilanthropyAI welfaremacroscopicSupport for the Consortium for Digital Sentience Research and Applied Work — AI welfare & sentience
Institute for AI Policy and StrategyAI governance, policy, and advocacyorg_reportedsupport to date from ... Macroscopic Ventures, the Survival and Flourishing Fund
Rhine AI LabOthermacroscopicResearch on agentic AI systems, sequential decision making, and generative AI at the University of Basel and UCL — General
Delta InstituteAI governance, policy, and advocacymacroscopicAI governance work at a Dutch think tank — AI governance
Redwood ResearchSecuritymacroscopicAI safety and security research on risks from powerful AI systems acting against developers’ interests — AI safety research
Center on Long-Term RiskS-riskmacroscopicResearch on ensuring emerging technologies such as AI do not cause suffering on an unprecedented scale — S-risk research
NYU Center for Mind, Brain, and ConsciousnessAI welfaremacroscopicSupport for work on AI consciousness and welfare — AI welfare & sentience

* Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2026; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2025; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

Macroscopic Ventures reported a $15m seed commitment to establish the Cooperative AI Foundation; spread evenly over five years (2021-2025).

§ Macroscopic Ventures reported a $3m commitment to establish FOCAL; spread evenly over three years (2022-2024).

Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2024; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

* Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2023; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

* Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2022; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

* Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2021; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

* Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2020; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.

* Estimated total given out by Macroscopic Ventures in 2019; grants recorded individually in this database are subtracted from the total. Split 70% AI safety / 15% animal welfare / 15% other.