ABOUT TAI
About
The Ashby Institute is an independent nonprofit research organization for AI economics and the institutions that shape it. We study the cost curves, bottlenecks, market structures, and distributional consequences of artificial intelligence — then ask whether public institutions can keep pace. Our independence is structural: no funder influences our research, and all funding is publicly disclosed.
FOUNDING
Why TAI Exists
The AI economy is the most consequential structural shift of our era. Intelligence is becoming cheaper, more widely deployed, and more tightly coupled to energy, capital, infrastructure, labor, and state capacity. The central questions are economic as much as technical: what remains scarce, who captures the returns, and which institutions can absorb the adjustment?
TAI was founded on a simple premise: W. Ross Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety — and its corollary, the Good Regulator Theorem — are the most precise tools available for diagnosing why oversight systems fail. They are not metaphors. They are mathematical results that predict, with structural precision, when a regulator will succeed and when it will not.
The Institute exists to apply these tools rigorously: to identify the constraints that bind the AI economy, explain how AI reorders economic power, and show what public institutions must be able to model before they can govern the systems they are meant to control. That work requires full independence, enforced through structural firewalls, not categorical exclusions.
THE THEOREM
V(R) ≥ V(D)
ASHBY'S LAW OF REQUISITE VARIETY · 1956
The variety of a regulator must be at least as great as the variety of the disturbances it is designed to control. This is not a design principle; it is a mathematical constraint.
INDEPENDENCE POLICY
Independence by
Conduct, Not Exclusion.
TAI accepts funding from a broad range of sources, including technology companies, governments, and foundations, subject to strict structural conditions. No funder, regardless of origin, may influence our research agenda, review findings before publication, or condition outputs on any commercial or policy outcome.
TAI's Research Council has sole authority over what the institute publishes. All funders and funding amounts are disclosed publicly. No funder holds a governance role.
PARTNER WITH US
FUNDING ENQUIRIES · research@ashbyinstitute.org
Fund the research
the field needs.
The economics and governance of advanced AI are among the most consequential and least-funded research problems of our era. TAI exists to close that gap through rigorous, structurally grounded work that no commercially entangled institution can produce.
We welcome support from foundations, technology companies, governments, and individuals who share that priority, under a single, non-negotiable condition: your funding does not purchase influence over our findings.
DISCUSS FUNDING →WHAT EVERY FUNDER RECEIVES
Unrestricted Grant Agreement
A formal grant agreement confirming that TAI's Research Council retains sole authority over all research outputs. No deliverable tied to a policy outcome.
Annual Transparency Report
Public disclosure of your organisation's name and funding range in TAI's annual report, published on this website. No exceptions, no anonymity.
Funder Briefings
Annual private briefings on TAI's research agenda and findings, the same briefings available to all funders, with no preferential access to unpublished work.
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNER
Lead Funder
funding level discussed upon enquiry
Lead support for a named TAI research program. Acknowledged in all program publications and in TAI's annual report.
RESEARCH SUPPORTER
General Supporter
funding level discussed upon enquiry
General operating support for TAI's research agenda. Acknowledged in TAI's annual report and on this website.
INDIVIDUAL DONOR
Individual Gift
one-time or recurring
Support TAI's mission as an individual. All donors acknowledged in the annual report unless anonymity is requested.
All funding arrangements are subject to TAI's Independence Policy. No funder receives preferential access to unpublished findings, influence over research conclusions, or governance rights. Funding amounts are disclosed publicly in TAI's annual report.
ENQUIRE ABOUT FUNDING →STAFFING MODEL
Small. Rigorous. Independent.
TAI operates with a deliberately small permanent staff. Research is conducted primarily by fellows: Ashby Fellows, Senior Research Fellows, Visiting Fellows, and Policy Residents, supported by a lean operational team.
This model keeps overhead low, maintains intellectual flexibility, and ensures that TAI's research agenda is driven by the questions that matter, not by the institutional imperatives of a large organization.
LOCATIONS
Washington, D.C.
ACTIVEPrimary Office · Policy Engagement
London
FORTHCOMINGEuropean Research Hub
Singapore
FORTHCOMINGAsia-Pacific Research Hub