The AI Policy Institute (AIPI) is a research and advocacy nonprofit dedicated to seeking political solutions to potential catastrophic risks from emerging AI technology. Founded in 2023 by Daniel Colson, AIPI conducts extensive public opinion polling through partnerships with firms like YouGov, producing research on voter attitudes toward AI regulation and safety. The institute works with journalists, lawmakers, researchers, and other AI safety organizations to translate public concern about AI risks into effective governance and policy proposals.
The AI Policy Institute (AIPI) is a research and advocacy nonprofit dedicated to seeking political solutions to potential catastrophic risks from emerging AI technology. Founded in 2023 by Daniel Colson, AIPI conducts extensive public opinion polling through partnerships with firms like YouGov, producing research on voter attitudes toward AI regulation and safety. The institute works with journalists, lawmakers, researchers, and other AI safety organizations to translate public concern about AI risks into effective governance and policy proposals.
Funding Details
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- Fiscal Sponsor
- The Hack Foundation
Theory of Change
AIPI believes that translating broad public concern about AI risks into concrete, evidence-based policy action is essential to mitigating catastrophic outcomes from frontier AI. By rigorously polling public opinion and demonstrating strong bipartisan voter support for AI regulation, the institute provides policymakers with the political cover and data they need to pursue safety-focused legislation. Through direct engagement with lawmakers, media, and researchers, AIPI aims to ensure that democratic public sentiment is reflected in AI governance rather than allowing the technology's trajectory to be determined solely by industry interests.
Grants Received
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
from Survival and Flourishing Fund
Projects– no linked projects
People– no linked people
Discussion
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Key risk: Public attitudes toward AI are low-salience and highly framing-dependent, so a polling-led theory of change may not reliably translate into durable, x-risk-reducing federal policy, making AIPI’s counterfactual impact sensitive to execution quality and timing.
Details
- Last Updated
- Apr 2, 2026, 10:00 PM UTC
- Created
- Mar 18, 2026, 11:18 PM UTC
Case for funding: AIPI uniquely combines high-quality rapid public opinion polling on frontier-AI risk (e.g., its widely cited SB 1047 surveys and adversarial collaboration work) with direct lawmaker engagement via its c3/c4, giving policymakers credible political cover and ready-made policy options in crisis windows when safety-focused legislation can actually move.