Better Futures Fellowship is a 9-week pilot for people deciding whether better-futures work should become their focus
Better-futures work is research and fieldbuilding aimed at improving how good the future is, conditional on humanity surviving. Most longtermist effort goes into making sure there is a future at all; this fellowship is about the other half — making that future go well. It pairs a five-week facilitated discussion course, anchored in research by William MacAskill and colleagues at Forethought Institute, with a four-week project phase in which every fellow ships a public output.
Applications for the current Better Futures Fellowship pilot are closed. Register your interest in future cohorts to hear when applications open.
| Format | Remote |
|---|---|
| Structure | 9 weeks: a 5-week discussion course + a 4-week project phase |
| Cohort size | 4–8 fellows plus a trained facilitator |
| Time commitment | ~5 hours/week (weeks 1–5), ~5–10 hours/week (weeks 6–9) |
| Cost | Free |
| Certificate | Certificate upon completion |
| Track record | 2,288 applications across 10 iterations · 185 trained facilitators · 9.0/10 average recommendation |
Drawn from Forethought Institute's Better Futures research program, developed with feedback from Forethought's team and created by William MacAskill and colleagues.
Explore the Better Futures series →
| Week | Theme |
|---|---|
| 1 | Why flourishing, not just survival |
| 2 | The intelligence explosion and grand challenges |
| 3 | What would a good future actually be? |
| 4 | Power concentration: who ends up controlling AGI? |
| 5 | AI character, epistemics, and choosing your lever |
| 6–9 | Project phase — every fellow ships a public output |