We are ARENA.

ALIGNMENT RESEARCH ENGINEER ACCELERATOR

We aim to provide talented individuals with the skills, community, and confidence to contribute directly to technical AI safety.

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ARENA 8.0: May 25 – Jun 26 2026

We are delighted to announce that our programme’s eighth iteration, ARENA 8.0, will be taking place in summer 2026!

Applications to ARENA 8.0 are now closed.

ARENA 8.0 will be running in-person at the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA) from May 25th – June 26th. We will cover the costs of travel to/from London, any visa expenses, accommodation for the full duration of the programme, and provide meals, drinks and snacks on programme days. We aim to ensure that finances do not present a barrier to anyone’s participation in ARENA.

If you’re interested in applying to future iterations of ARENA but won’t be able to attend ARENA 8.0, please fill in this expression of interest form to ensure you’re kept up-to-date for when we open applications for future iterations.

For more information about the programme, see our announcement post on LessWrong.

Programme Details:

  • ARENA provides in-person programming bootcamps, equipping people with the skills, community and confidence to contribute to technical AI safety. We run 2-3 bootcamps each year, and each lasts for 4-5 weeks. We’re based at the London Initiative for Safe AI (LISA) in Shoreditch, London.

    For those who wish to use our materials – whether to learn independently, or run their own AI safety courses – our curriculum is available online.

    We are grateful to be funded by Coefficient Giving.

  • There’s no single profile that we look for at ARENA; in recent iterations, successful applicants have come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. We intend to keep it this way – this diversity makes our bootcamps a more enriching learning experience for all.

    When assessing applications to our programme, we like to see:

    • Applicants who genuinely care about AI safety and making the future development of AI go well;

    • Applicants who are able to code well in Python, and have some knowledge of the maths needed for modern AI (linear algebra, calculus, probability);

    • A solid understanding of how you might best contribute to technical AI safety, and how you expect ARENA to help you achieve your goals.

    Since ARENA is an ML bootcamp, some level of technical skill in maths and coding will be required – more detail on this can be found in our FAQs. However, if our work resonates with you, we encourage you to apply.

  • ARENA can accelerate people’s journey into impactful AI safety work by providing them with the skills, connections, and confidence required to take their next steps. Being situated at LISA also helps our participants build great relationships with people from across the AI safety community.

    Our alumni have gone onto:

    • Work as AI safety engineers at Apollo Research, Anthropic and METR;

    • Become MATS scholars and LASR participants;

    • Start their own AI safety organisations;

    • Pursue impactful research at world-class academic institutions.

    During ARENA, we run careers events with a view to helping participants with what comes next. We endeavour to keep in touch with our alumni and look after them beyond their time with us.

  • Please find our applications page here.

    For our in-person programmes, we operate a three-stage applications process:

    • Initial application form (this should take fewer than 90 minutes);

    • Coding test (six questions within 1-hour time limit);

    • Final interview: a 30-minute discussion with one of our team members exploring your interests, motivations, and technical skills.