Form 990 for tax year 2023
Filed by CENTER FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SAFETY INC.
Totals
- Total revenue
- $16,089,191
- Total expenses
- $8,134,449
- Contributions and grants received
- $15,594,432
- Grants paid
- $0
- Program service revenue
- $0
- Investment income
- $484,973
- Other revenue
- $9,786
- Total assets, end of year
- $13,989,499
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $5,451,259
- Net assets or fund balances, end of year
- $8,538,240
- Program services expenses (Part IX)
- $7,431,439
- Management and general expenses
- $580,220
- Fundraising expenses
- $122,790
- Program service expenses (Part III)
- $7,431,439
Program services were 91.4% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.
Line items
Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.
Revenue
Part VIII, the statement of revenue.
-
1f · All other contributions, gifts and grants
$15,594,432
-
3 · Investment income
total $484,973 · excluded $484,973
-
4 · Income from investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds
total $0
-
5 · Royalties
total $0
-
6d · Net rental income or loss
total $0
-
7d · Net gain or loss
total $0
-
8c · Net income from fundraising events
total $0
-
9c · Net income from gaming
total $0
-
10c · Net income from sales of inventory
total $0
-
11a · Other revenue: Other Revenue
total $9,786 · excluded $9,786
-
11e · Other revenue, total
$9,786
Functional expenses
Part IX, the statement of functional expenses.
-
1 · Grants to domestic organizations and governments
total $0
-
2 · Grants to domestic individuals
total $0
-
3 · Grants to foreign organizations and individuals
total $0
-
4 · Benefits paid to or for members
total $0
-
5 · Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
total $423,684 · program services $199,238 · management and general $161,794 · fundraising $62,652
-
6 · Compensation of disqualified persons
total $0
-
7 · Other salaries and wages
total $1,189,703 · program services $1,058,485 · management and general $122,057 · fundraising $9,161
-
8 · Pension plan contributions
total $21,029 · program services $20,080 · management and general $739 · fundraising $210
-
9 · Other employee benefits
total $45,766 · program services $36,803 · management and general $7,775 · fundraising $1,188
-
10 · Payroll taxes
total $177,792 · program services $138,677 · management and general $30,225 · fundraising $8,890
-
11a · Fees: management
total $0
-
11b · Fees: legal
total $111,329 · management and general $111,329
-
11c · Fees: accounting
total $28,138 · management and general $28,138
-
11d · Fees: lobbying
total $0
-
11e · Fees: professional fundraising services
total $0
-
11f · Fees: investment management
total $0
-
11g · Fees: other
total $3,000 · fundraising $3,000
-
12 · Advertising and promotion
total $0
-
13 · Office expenses
total $0
-
14 · Information technology
total $0
-
15 · Royalties
total $0
-
16 · Occupancy
total $325,440 · program services $241,928 · management and general $68,004 · fundraising $15,508
-
17 · Travel
total $31,827 · program services $31,827
-
18 · Travel or entertainment for public officials
total $0
-
19 · Conferences, conventions and meetings
total $0
-
20 · Interest
total $0
-
21 · Payments to affiliates
total $0
-
22 · Depreciation, depletion and amortization
total $2,178 · program services $1,742 · management and general $218 · fundraising $218
-
23 · Insurance
total $2,980 · program services $2,384 · management and general $298 · fundraising $298
-
24a · Other expenses: compute cluster
total $2,827,333 · program services $2,827,333
-
24b · Other expenses: field building
total $1,221,381 · program services $1,221,381
-
24c · Other expenses: philosophy fellowship
total $903,821 · program services $903,821
-
24d · Other expenses: research
total $238,963 · program services $238,963
-
24e · All other expenses
total $580,085 · program services $508,777 · management and general $49,643 · fundraising $21,665
Balance sheet
Part X, book values.
-
1 · Cash, non-interest-bearing
beginning of year $5,896,229 · end of year $1,286,542
-
2 · Savings and temporary cash investments
end of year $0
-
3 · Pledges and grants receivable
end of year $190,000
-
4 · Accounts receivable
end of year $25,262
-
5 · Loans and receivables from officers and key people
end of year $0
-
6 · Loans and receivables from disqualified persons
end of year $0
-
7 · Other notes and loans receivable
end of year $0
-
8 · Inventories for sale or use
end of year $0
-
9 · Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
beginning of year $47,185 · end of year $27,965
-
10a · Land, buildings and equipment: cost or other basis
$12,530
-
10b · Land, buildings and equipment: accumulated depreciation
$2,178
-
10c · Land, buildings and equipment, net
end of year $10,352
-
11 · Investments: publicly traded securities
end of year $12,449,378
-
12 · Investments: other securities
end of year $0
-
13 · Investments: program-related
end of year $0
-
14 · Intangible assets
end of year $0
-
15 · Other assets
end of year $0
-
17 · Accounts payable and accrued expenses
beginning of year $100,114 · end of year $191,457
-
25 · Other liabilities
end of year $5,259,802
-
27 · Net assets without donor restrictions
beginning of year $1,560 · end of year $7,768,032
-
28 · Net assets with donor restrictions
beginning of year $5,841,740 · end of year $770,208
Mission and programs · 2023
Mission
to reduce societal-scale risks associated with artificial intelligence AI by advancing safety research, building the field of AI safety researchers, and promoting safety standards.
-
Compute Cluster: CAIS runs an initiative to provide free compute for research projects in ML safety, based on a cluster of 256 A100 GPUs with dedicated support staff to enable non-industry researchers to conduct advanced AI safety research requiring cutting-edge models. In 2023, the program has enabled 63 research projects and 36 papers under review or published, while serving over 200 AI safety researchers. According to user surveys, 70% of researchers reported their projects would not have been possible in their current scope without the cluster, while the remaining 30% indicated the cluster significantly accelerated their research progress.
Expenses $2,827,333
-
Expenses $2,089,713
-
Field Building: CAIS builds and strengthens the AI safety research community through various initiatives designed to provide support and lower barriers to entry. In 2023, it engaged hundreds of researchers across multiple disciplines, training 291 students through its technical ML Safety Course, convening 25 legal scholars and policy researchers to form a new AI safety & law consortium, and connecting with over 1,000 ML researchers through AI safety events at ML conferences. Key initiatives included developing an AI safety textbook, running a Philosophy Fellowship, hosting Law & AI Safety workshops, offering student scholarships, organizing a Trojan Detection Challenge, and facilitating ML Safety social events. The organization continues to provide infrastructure for the AI safety research ecosystem while initiating multi-disciplinary projects to explore AI's societal effects and creating educational resources to encourage newcomer participation in the field.
Expenses $1,221,381
As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.
Listed in Part VII
-
Daniel James Hendrycks
Executive Dir.
- Total calculated
- $220,851
- From this org
- $213,641
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $7,210
- Hours/week
- 40
Schedule J breakdown matched by us
- Base
- $212,141
- Bonus
- not reported
- Other
- $1,500
- Deferred
- not reported
- Nontaxable benefits
- $7,210
- Filer's total
- $220,851
-
Bri Treece
COO
- Total calculated
- $165,238
- From this org
- $157,420
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $7,818
- Hours/week
- 40
Schedule J breakdown matched by us
- Base
- $155,920
- Bonus
- not reported
- Other
- $1,500
- Deferred
- $4,445
- Nontaxable benefits
- $3,373
- Filer's total
- $165,238
-
Oliver Zhang Managing Director
Director
- Total calculated
- $37,595
- From this org
- $35,538
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $2,057
- Hours/week
- 40
-
Rune Tybirk Kvist
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Jaan Tallin
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.
Schedule J
Answered yes
- 3 · Independent compensation consultant
- 3 · Form 990 of other organizations
- 3 · Written employment contract
- 3 · Compensation survey or study
- 3 · Approval by the board or compensation committee
- 8 · Paid under the initial-contract exception
- 9 · Followed the rebuttable-presumption procedure
Answered no
- 4a · Severance or change-of-control payment
- 4b · Supplemental nonqualified retirement plan
- 4c · Equity-based compensation arrangement
- 5a · Pay contingent on this organization's revenues
- 5b · Pay contingent on a related organization's revenues
- 6a · Pay contingent on this organization's net earnings
- 6b · Pay contingent on a related organization's net earnings
- 7 · Other non-fixed payments
The filer's explanations (Part III)
- Part I, Line 8: Amounts reported on 990 VII pursuant to initial contract exemption described in Regs
- The organization hired the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in February 2023 pursuant to a written employment contract. At the time of hire, the individual was neither a director, officer, or otherwise disqualified person with respect to the organization and was not in a position to exercise substantial influence over its affairs. The contract's terms were fixed and specify all elements of compensation including salary, benefits, and any potential bonus arrangements. The contract was negotiated at arm's length before the individual began providing services to the organization. The organization's board reviewed comparable compensation data for similar positions at comparable organizations before approving the contract terms. Since this agreement represents the initial contract between the organization and the COO, and the COO was not previously in a position to exercise substantial influence over the organization's affairs, the fixed payments under this contract are subject to the initial contract exception under Treasury Regulations section 53.4958-4(a)(3).
Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.
Grants on this return
No itemized grants to organizations on this return.
Provenance
- Return type
- form_990
- Tax year
- 2023
- Filed
- 9 June 2025
- IRS schema version
- 2023v6.0
- Source object
- 202511609349300741
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