Emerging Voices in AI and Society Fellowship

Program Overview

Center for Humane Technology (CHT) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to realign the most consequential technologies with humanity’s best interests. CHT works to make sense of how consequential technologies are impacting society — and what can be done about it. We interpret and bring clarity to a fast-moving landscape, raise the questions that technology forces us to confront, and connect day-to-day harms to the deeper systemic incentives driving them. Our role is not just to sound the alarm, but to elevate the conversation, shaping the urgent ideas of our time, and to advance solutions so that people feel equipped to act.

Our newly launched Emerging Voices in AI and Society Fellowship exists because this work requires more voices than CHT currently has. We have identified five focus areas for applicants to choose from and will choose three fellows, representing unique focus areas, for our inaugural cohort. Applicants are welcome to apply for up to two focus areas.

Key Details

• Fellowship Size: 3 Fellows (pilot cohort)
• Duration: 6 months, beginning Sept 14, 2026 through March 18, 2027
• Commitment: 15 hours a week, 10 hours overlapping with EST, remote
• Compensation: Fixed stipend of $30,000 paid based on the completion of three milestones
• Application Deadline: Sunday, July 12 11:59pm EST

Who Should Apply

CHT is looking for mid-career experts from interdisciplinary backgrounds with media experience and excitement to apply to our fellowship program. You might be:

• A researcher or junior faculty member in psychology, sociology, philosophy, cognitive science, communications, or science and technology studies who has been studying the human impacts of technology
• A policy analyst or former government official who has been working on AI governance, digital rights, or platform accountability
• A journalist or writer who covers technology and society
• A civil society advocate or organizer who has been working on tech accountability, digital rights, or community impacts of AI, and brings the perspective of the people most affected
• Someone who came up inside the tech industry who has insight into how these systems are built and what drives the decisions behind them

You’re a good fit if you:

• Published op-eds, essays on Substack, or peer-reviewed work that they can also explain to a general audience
• Spoken at conferences where their ideas reach people outside their immediate field
• Have an active on social media and are building a following around their ideas

Expertise

• Early- to mid-career, with a focus on the impacts of technology on society, understands that the most important AI questions are not just technical
• Comfortable operating in an interdisciplinary setting, at the intersection of technology, human psychology, and social structures
• Delivery-oriented research mindset: proven experience advancing rigorous research while reliably shipping concrete deliverables on time; able to navigate trade-offs between depth and timeliness.
• Intellectually honest enough to distinguish between what we know, what we suspect, and what remains genuinely open

Communication and Public Presence

• A natural communicator who is already active and engaged on the issues they care about
• Able to bring complex ideas to diverse audiences through writing, speaking, or an active public presence
• A willingness to adjust message delivery in order to effectively meet a diverse range of audiences. An existing audience or social media following is a plus but not a requirement; what matters is the demonstrated appetite and ability to communicate publicly

Perspective on AI and Society

• Understands that AI harms are predictable products of specific business models, design choices, and institutional incentives
• Believes that the trajectory of AI is not inevitable — that design, policy, and cultural norms can shift outcomes — and brings that constructive orientation to their work
• Understands the importance of addressing near, mid, and longer-term harms and does not fall into the binary of AI Ethics vs AI Safety
• Demonstrate a healthy questioning of the information and narratives put forth by technology companies, always investigating why companies may be incentivized to say or do what they’re saying or doing
• Equally demonstrates a nuanced perspective of the issues at hand while also knowing when decisive action needs to be taken to move the needle
• Prioritizes impact over performative actions