Approving this project, under our portfolio of advocacy for AI safety. Curious to hear any more context @RyanKidd might have to add!

I'm afraid

[Progress update]

1. What progress have you made since your last update? (October 2025)

Since October, we completed a major strategic pivot from broad state engagement to targeted influencer persuasion — and executed on it.

The centerpiece: we published Strategic Memo v2.6 (https://www.cbpai.org/strategic-memo), a 356-page analysis featuring deep profiles of 14+ key influencers of Trump's AI policy — Vance, Bannon, Altman, Musk, Thiel, Sacks, Pope Leo XIV, Gabbard, Amodei, Hassabis, and others. For each, we mapped their interests, philosophies, AI predictions, and tailored persuasion strategies. This isn't a policy white paper; it's an operational playbook.

We conducted the 1st Persuasion Tour across Silicon Valley and Washington DC. Key engagements included: 26+ meetings with AI lab policy and strategy staff at headquarters in the Bay Area (including senior advisors to two of our target influencers); 16+ researchers and staff with independent relationships to key AI policymakers in DC; and direct letters hand-delivered to staff at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind headquarters.

Our coalition grew to 40+ multidisciplinary advisors spanning UN, WEF, NSA (current and former), Yale, Princeton, and top AI labs. We now maintain introducer relationships reaching Congress, Mar-a-Lago networks, Vatican AI ethics leadership, and Beijing diplomatic channels.

All on approximately $7,500/month and 1,500+ volunteer hours. Full details: https://www.cbpai.org/achievements

2. What are your next steps?

We're targeting the April 2026 window — Trump's anticipated meeting with Xi Jinping — as the moment for "the deal of the century." Our Q1 2026 roadmap (https://www.cbpai.org/roadmap) is designed to build momentum before that window closes.

January: Publish Strategic Memo 3.0 with updated influencer analyses and new Direct/Open Letters (https://www.cbpai.org/open-letters) for all key influencers — including a dedicated letter to Pope Leo XIV timed to his emerging leadership on AI ethics. Complete second-wave outreach to high-priority introducers.

February: Execute the 2nd Persuasion Tour — Washington DC, the Mar-a-Lago area, and Rome. The goal is precision-targeted delivery to the handful of individuals who actually shape Trump's AI thinking. We aim to secure commitments from 3-4 key influencers willing to privately coordinate an approach to Trump.

March-April: If the coalition coalesces, influencers deliver a coordinated private pitch to Trump — framing the treaty as his signature achievement, positioned as "peace through strength," and emphasizing the historical destiny angle (the Baruch Plan was proposed within an hour of his birth).

We're currently fundraising $150-400k by end of January to hire 2-3 staff and execute the tour at required tempo.

3. Is there anything others could help you with?

Three things would be transformative right now:

FUNDING: We need $150-400k by end of January to hire 2-3 staff and execute the 2nd Persuasion Tour. We're also seeking $10-20k bridge funding to maintain operations until we close larger commitments. The memo is complete; execution capacity is the bottleneck. Details: https://www.cbpai.org/donate-who

INTRODUCTIONS TO INFLUENCERS: If you have trusted access to any of our target influencers — Vance, Bannon, Altman, Musk, Thiel, Sacks, Pope Leo XIV, Gabbard, Amodei, Hassabis, Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan — we have ready-to-deploy Direct Letters (https://www.cbpai.org/open-letters) calibrated to each person's worldview. Warm introductions convert at dramatically higher rates than cold outreach.

CONTRIBUTING TO MEMO 3.0 (due January 30): We need deep knowledge of specific influencers' networks, expertise in treaty enforcement or diplomatic processes, and writing capacity for final drafts. If you have relevant expertise or connections, reach out: cbpai@trustlesscomputing.org

Join the coalition: https://www.cbpai.org/join

[Progress update]

1. What progress have you made since your last update? (October 2025)

Three major advances since October.

Strategic Memo v2.6 published (Dec 30, 2025). We completed and published our 356-page Strategic Memo — synthesizing 667+ sources with deep persuasion profiles of 14+ key influencers of Trump's AI policy (Vance, Bannon, Altman, Musk, Thiel, Amodei, Hassabis, Pope Leo XIV, Gabbard, Suleyman, and others). Each profile maps their interests, philosophy, AI predictions, and tailored persuasion strategies. It also includes detailed treaty-making frameworks, enforcement mechanisms designed to prevent both ASI and authoritarianism (pp. 124-136), and convergence scenarios showing how a critical mass of influencers could align. This isn't a policy white paper — it's an operational playbook for the most consequential persuasion campaign of our time.

1st US Persuasion Tour completed (Oct 2025). Results exceeded all projections — 85+ contacts (vs. 15-20 projected): 23 AI lab officials at OpenAI, Anthropic, and DeepMind HQs in the Bay Area (including senior advisors to two of our target influencers); 18 national security establishment engagements in DC; and direct introducer pathways to 2 of our 10 primary targets. Direct/Open Letters hand-delivered to staff at three major AI lab headquarters. Cost: ~$180 per high-value meeting. Full details: 2025 Achievements

Coalition expanded and site relaunched. Coalition grew to 100+ members, advisors, and supporters across 10 NGO partners, with contributors spanning the UN, NSA, WEF, Yale, Princeton, and top AI labs. We relaunched cbpai.org with dedicated pages for concerned citizens and AI safety experts, a comprehensive blog with 16 posts, and Direct/Open Letters to each key influencer.

Recent blog posts address fast-moving developments: The Pentagon Just Declared Wartime AI Mobilization — Here's Why That Makes a Treaty More Likely, Not Less (Jan 14) and January 1946, January 2026: The Paradox of Pragmatic US Presidents and Existential Treaties (Jan 16).

All of this on approximately $7,500/month and 2,100+ volunteer hours to date.

2. What are your next steps?

We're targeting the April 2026 window — Trump's first anticipated summit (of four) with Xi Jinping — as the critical moment for advancing a US-China-led AI treaty. Full roadmap: 2026 Roadmap

February: Strategic Memo v3.0 publication with updated influencer analyses, new Direct/Open Letters — including a dedicated letter to Pope Leo XIV timed to his emerging AI ethics leadership. Second-wave outreach to high-priority introducers. New Delhi AI Action Summit engagement (Feb 19-20) for direct contact with attending AI lab CEOs and international networking.

March–April (the critical window): Execute 2nd Persuasion Tour across Washington DC, Mar-a-Lago area, and Rome/Vatican. Precision-targeted engagement with the individuals who shape Trump's AI thinking. Rome/Vatican convenings could catalyze the humanist AI alliance — bringing together figures concerned about AI's threat to human dignity with Vatican moral authority. Strategic Memo v3.5 published and positioned for the summit window.

May–December: Post-summit reassessment and strategy recalibration. Sustained campaign across all four hubs. Singapore and other international venues as opportunities emerge.

2026 Targets: 150+ introducer engagements across four hubs (Bay Area, DC, Rome, Mar-a-Lago), 30+ direct engagements with influencers or their senior staff, 5-8 substantive meetings with influencers themselves.

We're currently seeking $10-30K bridge funding immediately and $100K–$400K by end of February to hire 2-3 staff and execute the tours at required tempo.

3. Is there anything others could help you with?

Three things would be transformative:

FUNDING. We need $100K–$400K to hire 2-3 staff and execute simultaneous operations across four hubs through the April summit window. We also need $10–20K bridge funding to maintain operations while closing larger commitments. The strategic arsenal is built; execution capacity is the sole bottleneck. With 2-3 hires, we can leverage AI tools to transform our 356-page treasure trove into personalized outreach at scale — easily 10-50x our impact. Details: Donate

INTRODUCTIONS TO INFLUENCERS. If you have trusted access to any of our targets — Vance, Bannon, Altman, Musk, Thiel, Pope Leo XIV, Gabbard, Amodei, Hassabis, Suleyman, Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan — we have ready-to-deploy Direct/Open Letters calibrated to each person's worldview, interests, and AI predictions. Warm introductions convert at dramatically higher rates than cold outreach.

CONTRIBUTING TO MEMO v3.0 (due mid-February): We need deep knowledge of specific influencers' networks, expertise in treaty enforcement or diplomatic processes, and writing capacity for final drafts. If you have relevant expertise or connections: cbpai@trustlesscomputing.org

Join the coalition | Case for AI Safety Experts | Case for Concerned Citizens

[Progress update]

What progress have you made since your last update?

We published and routed our May 12th Open Letter to President Trump:

https://www.cbpai.org/blog-1/an-open-letter-to-president-donald-j-trump-the-ai-deal-of-the-century-is-yours-to-strike

As the Popepresented his AI encyclical alongside a co-founder of Anthropic, being Rome-based, we published an in-depth, deeply-researched analysis of the potential of a structural Vatican-Anthropic alignment to foster a positive AI future.

https://www.cbpai.org/blog-1/an-alignment-of-the-pope-and-anthropic-on-the-future-of-ai

We fundraised. We are so grateful for your contribution, which has proven crucial in our recurrent and extended funding gaps, to pay the bills, make ends meet and keep it alive. Furthermore, we just got notified of a $45,000 funding from SFF, which is great news , but less than what we needed to decently host our planned event in Washington in September (see the below link).

https://www.cbpai.org/funding-so-far

What are your next steps?

• Update our 356-page Strategic Memo of The Deal of the Century
• Publish and route direct and open letters to key potential influencers of Trump's AI policy, based on the unique knowledge accumulated in the Strategic Memo ans our expanding network.
• Co-host a foundational The Cooperation of Statesmen Roundtables, in Washington, DC, this September, with a local co-hosting organization, framed in such a way that it can attract State Department, OSTP or Commerce Department junior or senior envoys.
• Also, we are considering upping our game in fundraising seeking 500k-1M - or finding an acqui-hire - as we/I find myself spending far too much time in overhead and fundraising, greatly reducing our/my effectiveness.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AQkiqPWelK8VB5eZDHKMqY_kfZRFpiJdvhyeT-yia7k/edit?tab=t.0

Is there anything others could help you with?

Here is how you can donate:
https://www.cbpai.org/donate-info

Here's how you can join our movement:
https://www.cbpai.org/join

[Progress update]

What progress have you made since your last update?
We hosted the first DC Roundtable in September and, on what we learned, relaunched the program as private Consultations on a Bold and Proper US-China-Led AI Treaty (cbpai.org/consultations). We now have working channels to four of the twelve power brokers we identified. The Strategic Memo is at v2.9 (Aug 2026), v3.0 in draft. We hired a fractional COO and have a Head of Policy ready to join once the next round closes. Full record: cbpai.org/achievements.

What are your next steps?
A $30K bridge for the next 90 days, raised here and from past donors, while we pitch an 18-month round of about $800K to institutional funders (cbpai.org/roadmap). I've rewritten this page to match; the old $150K goal is gone.

Is there anything others could help you with?
If you fund AI-safety work, two pages: cbpai.org/s/Donation-Case-for-AI-Experts-Two-Pager.pdf. If you know a regrantor who should see this, forward it. @RyanKidd — your write-up, a year late, would still be the most useful thing on this page.