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LLM at the University of Cambridge for Legal Alignment Work
ProposalGrant
Closes October 25th, 2026$0raised
$61,902minimum funding
$91,059funding goal
Offer to donate
37 daysleft to contribute
You're pledging to donate if the project hits its minimum goal and gets approved. If not, your funds will be returned.
Project summary
I want to undertake a one-year master’s program at the University of Cambridge to upskill and strengthen my qualifications for research on legal alignment. The legal alignment research area is nascent, with very few people working on the idea's policy implications. I have dedicated about a year to engaging with the landscape, from earlier papers and books by John N. and Samir Chopra to more recent ones by Cullen O’Keefe and Noam Kolt. This engagement revealed an urgent need for specialised legal knowledge to contribute immensely to the advancement of this new body of knowledge. Cambridge has unique facilities and resources for such specialised legal education. The significance of this program to legal alignment has also been confirmed by 80000 Hours advisors (Jake McKinnon and Laura González Salmerón).
What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?
The goal of the project is to uncover a pathway for grounding the law-following AI proposal in legal history. I believe this is essential to clarifying the laws that AI agents should be required to follow, as well as how the duty to follow the law may be implemented.
To achieve this goal, I intend to take courses relating to AI law and legal history, write a dissertation investigating ancient legal history to inform how to implement the law-following AI idea and explore the unique resources that Cambridge offers, including the Centre for English Legal History, dedicated legal history libraries, as well as faculty expertise.
How will this funding be used?
I have included a breakdown of the requested funds in the link below.
Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?
I graduated with first-class honours in my LLB and have since then completed the ILINA fellowship program, SPAR and Vista Institute for AI policy's courses, as well as the research and writing support program.
I have also completed a personal research project that investigates the potential for loophole detection and exploitation in LFAI agents. I would be happy to share a draft.
What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?
Lack of funds is the most likely cause of failure. I am awaiting a decision on my Longview Philanthropy extreme concentration of power grant application. I am yet to receive feedback, and time is running out; hence this proposal.
In the event I do not get any funding, I would pursue the self-study route as I remain committed to this project. Nevertheless, limitations such as lack of access to libraries, world-class facilities and expertise in legal history will significantly impact the quality of my outcome and even its utility.
How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?
None