OpenAI offers €500,000 in grants for youth AI safety work across EMEA
Funding programme targets NGOs and researchers focused on children’s wellbeing
OpenAI is offering €500,000 in grants to organisations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to support work on youth safety and wellbeing linked to artificial intelligence.
The company said the programme will fund non-governmental organisations and research bodies that work directly with children, young people, families or educators, or that produce independent research on how artificial intelligence affects young people’s safety, wellbeing and development.
OpenAI said individual grants are expected to range from €25,000 to €100,000, with multi-year awards considered for larger programmes or networked partnerships.
Allowable costs include reasonable direct and indirect expenses in line with institutional policies, and the company said it encourages proposals that deliver practical outputs such as reports, toolkits, policy briefs or tested approaches.
Applicants must be 18 or older and represent an operational non-governmental organisation, research institution or coalition that is legally registered in an EMEA country, with proof of registration provided on request.
OpenAI said selection criteria include alignment with programme objectives, impact and scalability, methodological rigour and ethical design, feasibility and organisational capacity, and sustainability and amplification.
Applications open on 28 January and close on 27 February, with projects expected to begin in the second or third quarter of 2026.
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Applicants are required to submit an online form including a project title, a detailed proposal of up to 500 words, a detailed budget and justification, team curricula vitae and affiliations, an ethics and data handling plan where relevant, and letters of support.
OpenAI said applications must be submitted through its online form and that it cannot provide status updates to applicants who are not selected.
The Recap
- OpenAI launches EMEA youth and wellbeing grant program.
- Total funding allocated is €500,000 for regional projects.
- Applications open 28 January and close 27 February.
