Humanity AI Announces More Than $18 Million in New Grants to Shape AI for the Public Good
Humanity AI Announces More Than $18 Million in New Grants to Shape AI for the Public Good
https://www.mellon.org/news/humanity-ai-announces-more-than-18-million-in-new-grants
Publish Date: 2026-05-12 12:02:00
Source Domain: www.mellon.org
Humanity AI, a collaborative philanthropic initiative dedicated to ensuring artificial intelligence (AI) serves the public good, today announced more than $18 million in new pooled grants. This includes $8 million in grants to organizations whose work spans the most urgent frontiers of AI’s impact on society, including safeguarding democratic institutions, protecting workers’ rights, strengthening journalism, and advancing education. Humanity AI will also support AI Civics, a new effort to advance public education, literacy, and community decision-making on AI and a forthcoming open call to identify further impactful projects.
Even as the adoption of and investment in AI continues to accelerate, a growing number of Americans are expressing concern about the technology and its role in our society, and who is guiding its governance. A June 2025 survey by Pew Research found that half of U.S. adults say the increased use of AI in daily life makes them feel more concerned than excited. Additional research by Pew found that more than half of U.S. adults (55%) say they want more control over how it is used in their lives.
This first group of Humanity AI grantees is building the talent, evidence, public voice, and public goods needed to ensure Americans have the ability to shape AI and ensure the technology is used to advance opportunity — rather than concentrating it in the hands of a few.
“AI is already reshaping how people learn, work, and participate in public life — and the humanities have a vital role to play in ensuring our choices about AI reflect our deepest values as a society,” said Maria Sachiko Cecire, Mellon Foundation Program Officer for Higher Learning. “Mellon is proud to support Humanity AI’s inaugural grantees, whose work brings community voice, rigorous inquiry, and a commitment to the public good to bear on one of the defining challenges of our time.”
Humanity AI grantees represent an interconnected and diverse portfolio of organizations,…
