# Apply to MATS Summer 2026!

[MATS Summer 2026 applications are now open](https://matsprogram.org/apply?utm_source=lw&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=s26) until January 18th.  Launch your career in AI alignment, interpretability, security, and governance with our fully-funded research program.

MATS focuses on what we see as one of the world's most urgent and talent-constrained problems: reducing risks from unaligned AI. We believe ambitious people from a wide range of backgrounds can meaningfully contribute to this work. Through MATS, fellows receive the mentorship, funding, compute, and community necessary to make this transition happen.

> "It's my number one recommendation to people considering work on AI safety." —[Jesse Hoogland](https://x.com/jesse_hoogland), Executive Director of [Timaeus](https://timaeus.co/)

> "Apollo almost certainly would not have happened without MATS." —Marius Hobbhahn, CEO of [Apollo Researc](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/)h (TIME 100 AI 2025), MATS alum and mentor

Over the last four years, MATS has accelerated 446 fellows working with 100+ mentors. Fellows have [co-authored 150+ papers, with 7,400+ citations and an org h-index of 37](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VgJaUK4AAAAJ&hl=en). About 80% of alumni now work directly in AI safety/security, and around 10% have co-founded AI safety startups, including [Apollo Research](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/), [Timaeus](https://timaeus.co/), [Simplex](https://www.simplexaisafety.com/), [Leap Labs](https://www.leap-labs.com/), [Theorem](https://theoremlabs.com/), [Workshop Labs](https://workshoplabs.ai/), and more!

MATS connects researchers with world-class mentors from [Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/), [Google DeepMind](https://deepmind.google/), [OpenAI](https://openai.com/), [UK AISI](https://www.aisi.gov.uk/), [GovAI](https://www.governance.ai/), [Redwood](https://www.redwoodresearch.org/), [METR](https://metr.org/), [Apollo](https://www.apolloresearch.ai/), [Goodfire](https://www.goodfire.ai/), [RAND](https://www.rand.org/), [AI Futures Project](https://ai-futures.org/), and more!

The [initial program](https://matsprogram.org/program/summer-2026) runs for 12 weeks (June-August 2026) in Berkeley, London, or remotely, depending on mentor preference. Fellows receive a $15,000 stipend, $12,000 compute budget, housing, meals, travel, a dedicated research manager, and access to workshops/events with the broader AI safety community. Approximately 75% continue in our fully-funded 6-12 month extension. Participants rated our last program 9.4/10 on average, with a median of 10/10.

All nationalities are eligible to participate in MATS, and roughly 50% of fellows are international. MATS welcomes talented applicants that traditional pipelines may overlook, particularly those who can demonstrate strong reasoning and research potential.

[Apply](https://matsprogram.org/apply?utm_source=lw&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=s26) by January 18, 2026 AOE! Visit the [MATS website](https://matsprogram.org/?utm_source=lw&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=s26) for detailed information on the program and application process.

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/72892b70d5d995e11ce5ec11982bc72be0cb9097ea235bf9.png)