Anthropic Fellows Program 2026: Apply for AI Safety Funding and Mentorship

Are you passionate about AI safety and ready to dive into cutting-edge research? The Anthropic Fellows Program 2026 offers a chance for technical talent to gain funding, mentorship, and hands-on experience. This program targets promising researchers and engineers, no matter their prior background, to work on projects that align with Anthropic’s goals.

Program Overview

The Anthropic Fellows Program 2026 aims to build skills in AI research and engineering. Fellows focus on empirical projects using tools like open-source models and public APIs. The main goal is to create public outputs, such as papers for submission. In past groups, more than 80% of participants produced papers. Applications opened recently, with a deadline of April 26, 2026, for cohorts starting in July 2026 and later.

Anthropic runs multiple cohorts yearly and reviews applications on a rolling basis. The next start date is July 20, 2026. This expansion builds on the success of their AI Safety Research Fellows, now covering various teams.

Available Workstreams

Fellows can apply across different workstreams, with skills often overlapping. Anthropic considers candidates for all by default, but you can list preferences. Some streams have unique assessment steps.

Here are the main workstreams:

• AI Safety Fellows: Focus on research to make AI systems safer.
• AI Security Fellows: Tackle security challenges in AI development.
• ML Systems & Performance Fellows: Improve machine learning systems and efficiency.
• Reinforcement Learning Fellows: Explore advanced training methods for AI agents.
• Economics & Societal Impacts Fellows: Study how AI affects economies and society.

Pick streams that match your interests and background.

Key Benefits

This program provides strong support for four months of full-time work. You get direct guidance from Anthropic researchers. Fellows share a workspace in Berkeley, California, or London, UK. It also connects you to the wider AI safety and security community.

Financial perks include a weekly stipend: $3,850 USD, £2,310 GBP, or C$4,300 CAD, plus country-specific benefits. Compute funding reaches about $15,000 per month, along with other research costs. These resources help you focus on high-impact projects.

Who Can Apply: Eligibility Criteria

To qualify, you need to be fluent in Python and available full-time. That’s the baseline.

Strong applicants often bring:

• Background in fields like economics, social sciences, or cybersecurity for specific streams.
• Experience in research or engineering tied to the workstream.

Ideal traits across all streams include:

• Drive to ensure AI benefits society.
• Interest in empirical AI research and potential full-time roles at Anthropic.
• Solid foundation in computer science, math, or physics.
• Ability to work fast in teams.
• Skills to build ideas quickly and explain them well.

Previous experience is not required, making it open to motivated newcomers.

How to Apply

Start by submitting your application through the official form. The link is available on Anthropic’s job board. Provide your workstream preferences and details on your fit.

Apply soon for the July 20, 2026 cohort, as the deadline is April 26, 2026. Check the full details on the Anthropic Fellows Program page for any updates.

This opportunity stands out for its real-world impact and generous support in the fast-growing field of AI.

Frequently Asked Questions