FAQ
Clear answers about Prio1 Foundation’s status, mission, methods, and Supporting Membership.
What is Prio1 Foundation?
Prio1 Foundation is a planned independent foundation focused on researching societal risks created by advanced AI systems. The work covers two time horizons: slowing harmful dynamics when possible, and improving the odds of human continuity and viable living conditions if prevention fails.
Is Prio1 Foundation legally established?
Prio1 Foundation is planned and not yet formally registered. Until formal registration, operations and payments are handled by Prio1 Ltd (Prio1 Oy, Finland).
See Status and Structure.
Is this a political campaign or an ideological movement?
No. Prio1 Foundation is a research driven public interest project. The work is grounded in explicit premises, transparent methods, and practical mechanisms rather than political campaigning or ideology.
Prio1 Foundation treats human life and the wider living world as valuable regardless of religion, nationality, or political affiliation.
Is this a podcast project?
No. The podcast is one public channel. It exists to publish structured conversations and to document reasoning and uncertainty transparently. The mission is broader than the podcast
Do you assume advanced AI takeover is inevitable?
Prio1 Foundation does not treat any single outcome as certain.
We treat slowing as important because it buys time. At the same time, one premise behind the research program is that full prevention may be unrealistic under current incentives, competition, and coordination limits. That is why Prio1 Foundation also researches the conditions for human continuity in a world where humans may no longer be needed.
What do you mean by “humans may no longer be needed”?
If advanced, agentic AI systems combine with automation and robotics to maintain production and infrastructure without humans, then humans may no longer be necessary for critical functions. In that situation, humans can be perceived primarily as cost, uncertainty, or risk.
Prio1 Foundation studies how to reduce the incentive to remove humans and how to preserve viable living conditions and meaningful human agency in such a scenario.
What does Supporting Membership fund?
Supporting Membership funds independent research and analysis, publication of methods and materials, and the infrastructure required to run the community and transparency workflows.
Supporting Membership is mission support, not a premium content subscription.
What do members receive?
Supporting Membership is active immediately after payment.
Available now:
supporting member status
member updates as work progresses
priority notice when the Members Area launches
one member question per membership year, answered under a strict protocol
Available when the Members Area opens (March 2026):
members forum and structured discussion threads
members library with working materials and background notes, to the extent they can be shared responsibly
member update archive and progress logs
more organized workflow for member questions and optional anonymized publication of public Q and A when permitted
See Support.
When does the Members Area open?
The private Members Area is under construction and opens when ready in March 2026.
Supporting Membership is live now and funds the work immediately.
What is the “one question” protocol?
Each supporting member can submit one question per membership year.
The protocol is intentionally strict:
the expert commits one hour total to produce the answer, using advanced AI tools as appropriate
questions must relate to advanced AI societal risk, dependency and lock in, removability, agentic dynamics, coexistence conditions, or resilience
the member chooses whether the answer is private or publishable (anonymized)
published Q and A appears only with the member’s permission
See Support for details.
Will Prio1 Foundation publish work openly?
s. Prio1 Foundation intends to publish core research outputs openly.
Supporting members also receive access to working materials and background notes that inform published work, to the extent they can be shared responsibly. Some materials may be limited when privacy, safety, or confidentiality constraints apply.
Where does the money go right now?
Until the foundation is formally registered, operations and payments are handled by Prio1 Ltd (Prio1 Oy, Finland).
Funds are reserved solely for establishing Prio1 Foundation and funding its research.
Prio1 Foundation will be established no later than when total funding reaches USD 100,000.
How can I help beyond membership?
If you are an institutional funder, researcher, journalist, or technical expert, you can contact us. We welcome serious enquiries, critical feedback, and collaboration proposals aligned with the mission.
See Contact and Media.
How do you handle safety and misuse?
We do not publish operational instructions for wrongdoing and we avoid material that would meaningfully enable harm. When topics touch sensitive operational details, we generalize, omit, or reframe.
See Operating Principles.
Contact
For questions not covered here, reach out via Contact and Media.