AI Alignment @ IllinoisAI Alignment
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How to apply

Every track is closed for the fall. Each one takes a single form, and the forms go back up in spring 2027.

The robot fills in one form, folds it into a paper plane and throws it along a Hilbert curve drawn on the graph-paper wall. It lands on the owl's desk, the owl stamps it Spring 2027 with a check, and it goes into the forms box.
Get the spring forms by email

Fundamentals, the Research Fellowship and the Policy Reading Group are all closed for the fall. All three open again in spring 2027.

How it runs
  1. One form for the track you want. It is the only step.
  2. We read it and write back with the next meeting.

The calendar

Come and learn more.

Sat 22 Aug
Recruitment posters go up campus-wide
Sun 23 Aug
Quad Day tabling
Wed 2 Sep
Research Fellowship applications closed, having been read as they arrived
Wed 2 to Sun 6 Sep
We may reach out to strong Fellowship applicants for an interview
Fri 4 Sep
Fundamentals applications are due
Sun 6 Sep
Research Fellowship decisions communicated
Week of Mon 7 Sep
Full-group meeting, cohorts assigned
Wed 9 Sep
Vals AI talk: how frontier models get benchmarked, with Nikil Ravi (Math & CS '23)
Mon 14 Sep
Cohorts begin running independently
Wed 30 Sep
AI ethics debate night with Phil Club

Questions

  • Do I need a machine learning background?

    No. Fundamentals assumes none, and it is where new members start.

  • Which majors is this for?

    All of them. The Policy Reading Group needs no tech background, the Singularity Reading Club is open to anyone who reads, and Fundamentals assumes nothing.

  • How much time does it take?

    A monthly general meeting of 60 minutes, plus your track. Fundamentals and the Research Fellowship meet weekly, and the Policy Reading Group meets weekly to biweekly.

  • Can I be in more than one track?

    Yes, once you are past Fundamentals. If you are new, Fundamentals comes first, and it ends with a capstone discussion that helps place you.