Why this matters
AI competition is a collective action problem
The competition to build transformative AI is accelerating, with very little coordination on safety. Competitive pressure can make cutting corners on safety rational. This creates a collective action problem: a lab that slows down risks being overtaken, and a government that raises standards risks falling behind rivals that do not.
Modeling Cooperation makes those trade-offs more explicit through software and research for decision-makers, researchers, and educators working on AI governance.
What we do
Three ways we support AI governance
We help AI governance researchers and policymakers explore AI competition dynamics, test assumptions, and reason through trade-offs.
Scenario simulation platform
We build software that helps researchers and policy educators run structured simulations of AI competition and explore strategic trade-offs more directly.
See platform featuresInteractive models
Our interactive tools let researchers and policymakers test AI competition models, compare assumptions, and see how safety dynamics change across scenarios.
Explore our toolsAI competition research
We use game theory and agent-based simulation to study when AI developers invest in safety, when they do not, and which interventions may withstand competitive pressure.
Read our researchFlagship software
A scenario simulation platform for strategic workshops
Our platform supports real-time coordination, game mechanics, and workshop administration for structured policy simulations. It currently powers the Intelligence Rising workshops, run by Technology Strategy Roleplay.
About
Software and research since 2019
Modeling Cooperation is an independent group that started collaborating following the AI Safety Camp. We are a small team of software engineers and researchers working at the convergence of AI governance, software engineering, and quantitative modeling.
Our supporters include
- Convergence Analysis
- Survival and Flourishing Fund
- Foresight Institute
- EAF Fund
News
Read about our work
Research updates, software releases, progress reports, and selected announcements.
July 23, 2026
$26,000 matching pledge fulfilled
Thanks to a generous donor on Manifund, we raised $26,000 and fulfilled the matching pledge we received from the Survival and Flourishing Fund. SFF will match the donation dollar-for-dollar as general support for Modeling Cooperation. Together, the $52,000 will help us continue building our scenario simulation platform and our research on AI competition dynamics.
View on ManifundJune 25, 2026
$10,000 grant awarded to Modeling Cooperation
We're grateful to have received a $10,000 rapid grant from BlueDot Impact. The grant will cover the LLM API costs of developing AI-controlled players for our scenario simulation platform. These players will take the roles of states and AI companies in workshops, helping facilitators steer the game and improve the learning experience for participants.
Visit BlueDot ImpactSeptember 12, 2025
$40,000 grant + $26,000 matching funds awarded to Modeling Cooperation
We're delighted to once again receive support from Jaan Tallinn via the Survival and Flourishing Fund to continue building our software and conducting our research on AI competition dynamics. In this round, we received a $40,000 grant and a $26,000 matching pledge: SFF will match donations to Modeling Cooperation dollar-for-dollar up to $26,000.
Read announcement