CLR Fundamentals Program
The CLR Fundamentals Program on risks of astronomical suffering (s-risks) is an online course intended for participants to learn more about which s-risks we consider most important and how to reduce them.
The Autumn 2026 Fundamentals Program will take place between Friday November 20th and Monday December 21st. The Program will consist of weekly readings, and the weekly hour-commitment is around five hours. The exact timing of the weekly meetings will be determined by participant availability, with most cohorts starting on the week of November 23rd.
The application deadline is Monday November 16th 23:59 GMT. If you do not have time to submit an application by this deadline but are interested in participating, please contact us (the earlier the better) and we may be able to accommodate your needs.
If you would like to be notified about future introductory programs, please sign up for updates.
For those interested in safe Pareto improvements (SPIs) specifically, we recommend our SPI Fundamentals Program.
Content
The CLR Fundamentals Program is designed to introduce participants to CLR's research on how transformative AI (TAI) might be involved in the creation of large amounts of suffering (s-risks). Our recent work on addressing these risks include our Model Personas agenda, s-risk macrostrategy, safe Pareto improvements (SPIs) and multiagent AI safety, in addition other relevant areas such as AI governance, epistemology, and risks from malevolent or fanatical actors.
We recommend people consider the Center for Reducing Suffering's S-risk Introductory Fellowship if they are interested in learning about work on s-risks beyond these priority areas, and consider BlueDot's AI Safety courses if they are interested in learning about existential risks from TAI.
Note that some prior familiarity with discourse surrounding TAI and AI safety will be helpful.
Target audience
We think the Fundamentals Program will be most useful for you if you are interested in reducing s-risk through contributions to CLR's priority areas, and are seriously considering making this a priority for your career. It could also be useful if you are already working in an area that overlaps with CLR's priorities (e.g. AI governance, AI alignment), and are interested in ways you can help reduce s-risks in the course of your current work.
We recommend those interested in our Summer Research Fellowship and Research Affiliates Program first take part in the Fundamentals Program, though participation is not a prerequisite. This way you have a better sense of what work on our priority areas involves, and are better able to "hit the ground running" if accepted.
There might be more idiosyncratic reasons to apply and the criteria above are intended as a guide rather than strict criteria.
Contact
If you have any questions about the program or are uncertain whether to apply, please reach out to info@longtermrisk.org.