TL;DR
- Talos Network trains and places the next generation of European AI governance talent.
- We have a strong track record: Between 2022 and 2025, 70% (58 / 83) of Talos Alumni successfully transitioned to roles directly contributing to advanced AI policy and safety.
- Our fellows shape policy: Our fellows now work across the EU AI Office, UK AISI, OECD, think tanks like RAND Europe and CEPS, and national parliaments.
- AI policy organisations value our work: In a 2025 survey of AI safety organisation hiring needs by 80,000 Hours, Talos was highlighted as a top source of new AI policy talent, ranking ahead of several long-established organisations.
- The Funding Gap: We are seeking €200,000 in marginal funding to diversify our funder base. This will help us to unlock placements in government and other organisations that our existing funders cannot support due to institutional constraints.
- The Unit Cost: Every €20,000 supports one 6-month placement in a European institution shaping the future of AI. These include Ada Lovelace Institute, Center for Democracy and Technology, Centre for European Policy Studies, Centre for Future Generations, European Policy Centre, Future of Life Institute, The Future Society, Interface, OECD.AI, Open Markets Institute, Pour Demain, SaferAI and Simon Institute among others.
What Talos Does
Talos Network runs Europe’s leading AI governance fellowship. We address the talent gap in AI policy by finding people with incredible potential and equipping them with the knowledge, skills and connections required to regulate frontier models.
We do this in three ways.
- Training early-career and senior professionals.
Through our flagship Talos Fellowship, we help ~50 high-potential individuals to launch their careers in advanced AI governance every year. We do this through an in-depth 8-week reading group featuring weekly guest speakers and a one-week summit in Brussels at which we connect our fellows with professionals at the cutting edge of the field. Past speakers and summit attendees have included policy leads from frontier AI companies, directors of AI policy think tanks, and senior government, EU Commission, and EU Parliament officials.
And starting in 2026 we are launching our new Policy Leaders Programme, a fellowship aimed specifically at individuals with 10+ years of experience. These people have the potential to step directly into senior positions and build new AI policy and safety organisations, however they face unique impediments to switching jobs mid-career. We are exceptionally bullish on our ability to recruit top senior talent that would otherwise not enter the field.
- Embedding fellows in high-impact institutions.
We match our top fellows with 6-month paid placements across think tanks, governments, and international organisations. In these placements they contribute directly to policy research and implementation, often including authoring papers that steer the conversation in Brussels. They also accelerate their careers by gaining valuable policymaking experience and connections. We have found that these placements significantly increase the chances of securing a high impact role in the AI policy sphere.
- Coordinating a high-touch network.
Policy is a team sport and the most important changes take years of work from diverse groups of talented people. What's more, knowledge at the frontier of AI policy is tacit and incredibly fast-moving. To this end, we maintain an active alumni network of over 100 professionals, scheduling regular talks and networking events as a mechanism for building trust and sharing knowledge between our alumni working in diverse roles.
Our Track Record
Since 2022, 70% of our alumni (58 / 83) have transitioned into roles directly contributing to AI safety. This includes positions at the European Commission, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), the UK’s AI Safety Institute, and over a dozen leading AI policy think tanks.
This success has been independently validated. In a 2025 survey of AI safety organisation hiring needs, Talos was ranked as the #2 source of AI policy talent globally, placing us ahead of significantly more established organisations. We are also highly trusted by the organisations with which we've placed fellows. Many of our partner organisations have accepted fellows every cohort since 2022 and see Talos as their best channel to recruit full-time talent.
Why We’re Fundraising (The Counterfactual)
Historically, the majority of Talos’s budget has come from Coefficient Giving (via Good Ventures). Their support was invaluable and allowed us to build fast, test our model, and prove our impact.
However, relying solely on a single US-based funder creates a strategic ceiling for European impact. Government institutions and think tanks can be sensitive to the source of funding for their external fellows, and there can be regulatory or internal hurdles that prevent them from accepting staff funded entirely by a single US donor.
For this reason we are seeking €200,000 in diversified funding. This funding will be earmarked for placements in European government institutions, arguably the most counterfactually valuable placements available. A more diversified funder base will also support our efforts to raise larger, keystone funds from major European philanthropic foundations.
An un-diversified funding mix is likely the number one impediment to our ability to offer novel, high-impact placements.
Why Europe Matters Now
The EU is the first and largest jurisdiction implementing comprehensive, binding frontier AI regulation. It also seems that the Brussels Effect is playing out, with the EU AI Act and Codes of Practice heavily influencing some state-level legislation in the US and national legislation in other countries. It seems likely that the standards set by the EU AI Office could become the de facto global compliance standards, particularly as frontier AI companies are already adjusting internal processes to meet European standards.
Europe needs knowledgable, motivated talent if it is going to draft and enforce these laws, and become a credible middle power with the influence to hold global AI actors accountable. Talos fills this gap.
2026 Funding Picture & The Ask
Our projected 2026 budget is €2.5 million. We anticipate raising approximately 80% of this budget from previous donors, and are seeking to raise the remaining €500,000 from diversified donors.
Our target is to raise €200,000 of this gap this giving season. This diversification will then support our efforts to raise funds from new donors.
What your donation supports:
- €1,000 supports one fellow to attend our Brussels Summit. This is consistently rated as one of the most valuable parts of the Talos Fellowship by participants.
- €20,000 funds one 6-month junior placement. Talent development and paid placements for junior-to-mid-level policy talent seems likely to be one of the most cost-effective interventions in the space.
- €50,000 funds one 12-month senior placement. Supporting these mid- and late-career transitions has the potential to be exceptionally high ROI.
Key Uncertainties
In the spirit of transparency, here are the key hypotheses we are testing:
- Does funding source actually matter to European institutions?
Early evidence seems to suggest it matters. While not decisive for every role, diversification significantly aids credibility and reduces friction for sensitive placements in high-impact institutions. - Are government placements higher-impact than think tanks?
Unclear, but it seems plausible. At the least we think they are complementary to think tank placements. - Are more experienced fellows more impactful, more quickly than junior fellows?
From initial conversations with our placement organisations it seems like this is a major bottleneck in the EU AI governance space, and it seems likely that the best senior people may have amplified impact by leading teams and leveraging their existing networks. But this is still untested and we may find that these individuals are less impactful than expected for any number of reasons.
Get Involved
Your marginal dollar goes a long way here to help us diversify our funding base. Every donation, big or small, will directly contribute to unlocking placements that otherwise cannot exist.
The listed uncertainties do not include my biggest question, which is: "do Talos fellows do more to reduce AI x-risk than the counterfactual hire?"