Juniper Ventures
This stream will focus on biosecurity, behavioral science for AI governance, and evaluating interventions to reduce catastrophic risk.
Stream overview
- AI for Biosecurity Risk Assessment and Governance
Projects that evaluate how frontier AI systems may affect biological research, including both beneficial applications (e.g., accelerating defensive biotechnology and biosurveillance) and misuse risks. This could include benchmarking AI capabilities relevant to biorisk, evaluating proposed safeguards, or identifying governance mechanisms that reduce catastrophic risk while preserving scientific benefits.
- Behavioral Science for AI Governance
Research examining how cognitive biases, incentives, and institutional dynamics shape decisions about AI governance and emerging technologies. Potential topics include expert forecasting, public attitudes toward AI risk, communication strategies for uncertainty, and interventions that improve decision-making among policymakers and technical organizations.
- Evaluating Interventions for Reducing Catastrophic Risk
Projects that compare the effectiveness of different technical, institutional, or philanthropic interventions aimed at reducing risks from advanced AI and biotechnology. This could involve literature reviews, quantitative modeling, policy analysis, or empirical studies designed to identify interventions with the greatest expected impact.
Across all of these projects, I would encourage work that combines methodological rigor with practical relevance, producing outputs that can directly inform policymakers, researchers, and organizations working to safely govern emerging technologies.
Mentors
Nick Fitz is a founder and general partner at Juniper Ventures. He previously co-founded and led Momentum, an AI donor-engagement company acquired by Virtuous in 2025.
I have founded three successful businesses and sold two, and now I've turned to investing in AI Safety.
Over the years I've learned a lot about what it takes to actually manage and run an organization, focus on what matters and scale the things that are important.
Mentorship style
Fellows we are looking for
Project selection
The Winter 2026 cohort offers a wide range of research streams led by experts across AI alignment, interpretability, governance, and safety. Each stream provides its own research agenda, methodology, and mentorship focus.
