CHAI Research Fellowship — Fellowship

The CHAI Research Fellowship is a postdoctoral position at the Center for Human-Compatible AI, which sits inside Berkeley AI Research on the UC Berkeley campus. The center was founded to reorient artificial intelligence research toward systems whose behavior can be shown to benefit people.

Fellows work alongside CHAI faculty Stuart Russell, Pieter Abbeel and Anca Dragan, and can collaborate with CHAI affiliate faculty at Berkeley, other Berkeley AI Research groups and researchers at partner institutions.

The mandate is deliberately open. Fellows choose their own projects across reasoning, decision making, learning, multi-agent systems and the philosophical foundations of the field, using tools from probability theory, game theory and control theory. Some also lead collaborations with Berkeley PhD students, mentor junior researchers, or teach a course tied to their work.

Benefits & funding

Funding for two years, renewable up to three years given satisfactory performance.
Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience, set on UC Berkeley salary scales and negotiated with the candidate; the center publishes no figure.
The position is eligible for visa sponsorship, and CHAI contributes to visa costs for fellows and their dependents (partner and children).
Freedom to set a research agenda within the center’s beneficial-AI mandate, rather than a fixed project brief.
Access to CHAI affiliate faculty, the wider Berkeley AI Research community and CHAI partner organizations.
Optional teaching and mentoring roles for fellows who want them.

Eligibility

A PhD in a relevant technical discipline — computer science, statistics, mathematics or theoretical economics — either held or close to completion.
A record of high-quality published research.
A solid understanding of current methods in AI and statistical learning is an advantage rather than a requirement.
Previous work on the AI control problem is not expected.
Open to applicants of any nationality; the role carries visa sponsorship for those who need it.
Fellows are based in Berkeley, California.

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Application process

1
Read the CHAI Research Fellowship section on the center’s Work With Us page.
2
Prepare a resume, a one-page statement of interest describing in general terms the research the candidate wants to undertake at CHAI, and a technical writing sample such as a journal article or arXiv posting.
3
Host each document at a stable link — the form collects documents as URLs, not uploads.
4
Optionally prepare a code sample (a GitHub repository) and a video of a talk or presentation.
5
Line up two academic referees and collect their institutions, email addresses and academic homepages.
6
Submit the online application form linked from the jobs page. Applications are accepted year-round and the start date is flexible.

Program timeline

Applications
accepted on a rolling basis, with no published closing date.
Review
candidates are assessed on research achievement, personal merit and leadership qualities; the center does not publish a decision schedule.
Start date
flexible, agreed with CHAI.
Term
two years from the start date, renewable to a third year.