Applications for LawAI's Summer Research Fellowship 2024 have now closed. Please check back later to learn about future iterations of the program.

Overview

For 8–12 weeks, participants will work with researchers at LawAI to explore questions around how the law can help to ensure safe, beneficial outcomes from transformative artificial intelligence. Fellows will receive a stipend of $10,000.

If you are interested in carrying out research in this field and are considering using your career to help mitigate risks from AI, we invite you to apply via our application form. The application deadline is February 16 at 11:59 pm Anywhere on Earth; however, we will consider applications and select fellows on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply as early as possible. Current students are encouraged to check their academic calendars and apply with enough time to complete the fellowship, or as much of it as possible, before classes resume.

We look forward to receiving your application!

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About Law AI

The Institute for Law & AI (LawAI) is an independent think tank that researches and advises on the legal challenges posed by artificial intelligence. We believe that sound legal analysis will promote security, welfare, and the rule of law. We conduct research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, law, and policy and advise governments, international organizations, public institutions, and private actors. You can review LawAI’s recent publications on our website and learn more about our focus areas in this overview of our Workstreams and Research Directions.

About the fellowship program

You will take the lead on a research project, with supervision from a member of the LawAI team, and mentorship and support from other LawAI researchers. Together with your supervisor, you will determine what project and output will be most valuable for you to work towards, for example: publishing a report, journal/law review article, or blog post(s). 

We expect fellows to attend regular meetings with the team, give occasional presentations on their research, and provide feedback on research pieces from others in the team and on the fellowship program. There will also be opportunities to learn more broadly about the AI risk space from practitioners at other organizations in our network, as well as career mentorship and guidance from our team.

The following are some examples of topics and questions we’d be particularly keen for fellows to research (though we are open to suggestions of other topics from candidates, which focus on mitigating risks from transformative AI):

  • Liability – How will existing liability regimes apply to AI-generated or -enabled harms? What unique challenges exist, and how can legislatures and courts respond?
  • Existing authority – What powers do US agencies currently have to regulate transformative AI? What constraints or obstacles exist to exercising those powers? How might the major questions doctrine or other administrative law principles affect the exercise of these authorities?
  • First Amendment – How will the First Amendment affect leading AI governance proposals? Are certain approaches more or less robust to judicial challenge? Can legislatures and agencies proactively adjust their approaches to limit the risk of judicial challenge?
  • International institutions – How might one design a new international organization to promote safe, beneficial outcomes from the development of transformative artificial intelligence? What role and function should such an organization prioritize?
  • Comparative law – Which jurisdictions are most likely to influence the safe, beneficial development of AI? What opportunities are being under-explored relative to the importance of law in that jurisdiction? 
  • EU law – What existing EU laws influence the safe, beneficial development of AI? What role can the EU AI Act play, and how does it interact with other relevant provisions, such as the precautionary principle under Art. 191 TFEU in mitigating AI risk? 
  • Anticipatory regulation – What lessons can be learned from historic efforts to proactively regulate new technologies as they developed? Do certain practices or approaches seem more promising than others?
  • Adaptive regulation – What practices best enable agencies to quickly and accurately adjust their regulations to changes in the object of their regulation? What information gathering practices, decision procedures, updating protocols, and procedural rules help agencies keep pace with changes in technology and consumer and market behaviors?
  • Developing other specific AI-governance proposals – For example: How might a government require companies to maintain the ability to take down, patch, or shutdown their models? How might a government regulate highly capable, but low-compute models? How might governments or private industry develop an effective insurance market for AI?

The fellowship can be a great way to explore possibilities for future collaborations, as we may continue to support specific fellows through grants after the fellowship ends. We may also consider hiring fellows who have demonstrated a strong commitment to our work and values. Fellows may also be invited to future events organized by LawAI.

Selection criteria

We are primarily looking for graduate law students (e.g. JD or LLM), PhD candidates, and postdocs working in law. Students entering the final year of a 5-year undergraduate law degree are also welcome to apply, as well as others who have recently graduated from the aforementioned degrees.

We strongly encourage you to apply if you have an interest in our work and are considering using your career to study or mitigate risks from transformative AI. Candidates will be expected to apply their research capabilities and legal knowledge to AI governance, but are not required to have previous experience or expertise in researching AI-relevant questions.

In addition to a willingness to engage with risks from AI, the ideal candidate will have the following strengths:

  • Ability to carry out self-directed research with limited supervision
  • Excellent written communication skills
  • Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and probabilistic reasoning skills

If you’re not sure about applying because you don’t know if you’re qualified or the right fit, we would encourage you to apply anyway — we often find that some of the most promising candidates underrate their fit for programs like this.

Further details

Funding

You will receive a stipend of $10,000 USD for the entire fellowship.

Duration

Fellows can choose a period of 8–12 weeks starting as early as June and ending as late as October 2024.

Work quota

This is a full-time role with flexible working hours. We will also consider exceptional candidates who are only able to join on a part-time basis but for a longer period of time. Students whose classes resume during the fellowship may complete it part-time during the semester.

Location

Remote. We will consider applicants from all countries.

Diversity and equal opportunities

We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and we encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. In particular, we know that things like gender, race, and socioeconomic background can often make people less willing to put themselves forward or call attention to their achievements. We really encourage people from underrepresented backgrounds to apply. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, or have any other questions about applying, please contact careers@law-ai.org.

Application process

01application form (Before February 16 at 11:59 pm Anywhere on Earth)

Please complete this application form. The form asks you to submit your academic CV, (optionally) share a previous research sample, briefly answer five questions to test your fit for the fellowship (max 750 characters each), and answer a few logistical questions. These responses can be completed quickly; we aren’t looking for perfect essays! We’re looking to get an impression of what you’re thinking about, what you care about, and how you’d approach the program.

We will aim to send invitations to interview within two weeks of the application deadline passing, but may be able to expedite the process for particularly promising candidates if necessary.

02interview (March 4 – March 15)

This stage will consist of a short online interview to further assess your fit for LawAI and the fellowship. You will be sent guidance about the interview beforehand, to allow you to prepare adequately.

03decision (By March 29)

We plan to make all offers to candidates by this date, though you can let us know if you need an earlier decision.

If you have any questions about the process, please contact us at careers@law-ai.org. We very much look forward to receiving your application!