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.
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 platform for strategic simulation workshops
Our simulation 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.
September 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. During this round, we received a $40,000 grant and a $26,000 matching pledge that will be matched dollar-for-dollar.
Read announcementNovember 21, 2024
Progress report 2024-H1
We're happy to share our ninth progress report, covering the first half of 2024. Our focus continues to be on the Intelligence Rising software we build in collaboration with Shahar Avin, so the report highlights the related achievements and roadblocks. It also summarizes updates to our team and future goals.
Read reportMay 16, 2024
$77,116 grant awarded to Modeling Cooperation
We're grateful to have received $77,116 from the Foresight Institute for our work with Technology Strategy Roleplay on the software behind Intelligence Rising. The grant will help us maintain and further develop the software.
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