Mission
Safe AI Netherlands (SAIN) exists to develop the talent the Netherlands needs to address the risks of transformative AI.
Transformative AI is AI capable of changing the economy, science, society, or global security on the scale of a major historical revolution. At this current scale, AI could affect not only how we live, but humanity's long-term future.
We can still make our future safe. Currently, it is not.
We need people who understand the risks, can do the difficult work, and are ready to shape what happens next. SAIN makes it possible for anyone to make their first contribution to the AI Safety field.
The Challenge
As AI systems reshape everything around us, the risks scale accordingly. This is a monumental transition, and we have the power to shape whether it is positive or negative, just or unjust.
The world needs more people with the skills to address the risks of AI, and the infrastructure to put them to work. Today, we have too little of both.
However, we believe the Netherlands has the foundations to build that capacity here. The Netherlands is home to world-class universities, a thriving tech sector, and major institutions like ASML, yet it lacks a unified civil-society voice on AI safety. What we are missing is the talent pipeline that turns this potential into people ready to work on AI safety.
Today, someone who cares about these issues often has no clear path from curiosity to meaningful contribution. At the same time, organisations working on these problems struggle to find people with the right combination of technical, policy and practical skills. The result is a gap between the people who want to contribute and the work that needs to be done.
SAIN was created to close that gap.
We find people with the potential to contribute, give them the skills and experience to contribute, and connect them to organisations doing AI safety work. We build the pipeline the Netherlands needs, and help people stay here to do the work.
Who We Are
Safe AI Netherlands is a talent pipeline.
We develop the people.
The field puts them to work.
Safe AI Netherlands is the leading civil-society organisation for AI safety in the Netherlands. We are a national foundation (stichting) that operates through a network of local chapters (SAIN Groningen, SAIN Amsterdam, SAIN Utrecht, and more to come) united under a single brand, a shared mission, and centralised infrastructure.
SAIN grew out of the AI Safety Initiative Groningen (AISIG), which in under a year transformed from an informal student group into a professionalised organisation with a Project Hub and published research at top-tier conferences (NeurIPS, ICLR), over 100 course graduates across 9+ cohorts, and operational playbooks that other Dutch AI safety groups began adopting. When it became clear that this model could, and should, serve the entire country, we rebranded and expanded.
SAIN is led by the national Director and Chapter Directors of SAIN Groningen, Amsterdam, and Utrecht, who are responsible for legal and strategic decisions. An Advisory Board of experts in the Dutch AI safety landscape provides specialist strategic guidance. This structure is designed to scale cleanly from a handful of chapters to many more.
Our Vision
We envision a Netherlands ready for transformative AI, where talent, institutions and communities come together to make the future safe. AI safety cannot be a niche concern, but rather should be a recognised priority across universities, in boardrooms, in government ministries, and in public conversation. People must be able to access the field, build the skills to contribute, and find meaningful work without having to leave the Netherlands.
In the future, the Netherlands should become a place where people stay, connect and do the work: building a strong AI safety community and contributing to the field globally.
In concrete terms, we envision:
- A deep talent pipeline that takes people from curiosity to capability to meaningful work in AI safety. This includes influence in EU policy bodies, at frontier AI labs, in government advisory roles, in academia, and beyond.
- A thriving research community connected by a national Project Hub with dozens of active projects and a growing body of peer-reviewed publications at leading global conferences.
- Growing and evolving educational opportunities connecting technical, policy, governance and other expertise across academia, industry and government. Hundreds of individuals per year completing both entry-level and advanced AI safety courses across multiple cities.
- Engaging national and local activities: large conferences, hackathons and expert seminars alongside accessible local gatherings that welcome newcomers.
- A strong and informed professional media operation producing high-quality content on AI safety that reaches the Dutch public and brings new people into the field.
- Thriving local chapters across the country, each with dozens to hundreds of active individuals.
- A Netherlands that contributes globally, with its talent and institutions shaping AI safety research, policy and practice far beyond its borders.
All in pursuit of ensuring the development and integration of AI genuinely benefits all of humanity.
Strategic Framework: Four Pillars
SAIN builds the talent pipeline and field infrastructure the Netherlands needs through four integrated pillars that together move individuals from first exposure to deep engagement. (For how these pillars produce measurable change, see SAIN's Theory of Change.)
Communications. SAIN makes the AI safety field and its opportunities accessible to a wider pool of talent. SAIN helps shape the national narrative on AI safety through strategic outreach across LinkedIn, Instagram, Substack, and other channels. We promote pathways into the field, showcase opportunities to learn and contribute, and make the work of the Dutch AI safety community easier to discover.
Events. SAIN builds the communities and connections that turn individual interest into collective capacity. We organise both high-level national events and small local gatherings, from expert speaker series and technical hackathons to informal AI Safety Chats. We bring together newcomers, practitioners, researchers, policymakers and institutions through local gatherings, national conferences, expert seminars, hackathons and other events.
Education. Education is a critical transition in SAIN's pipeline. Without it, people are not equipped to take an informed next step in their career. Every chapter has individual freedom to tailor educational activities to local needs. SAIN aims to provide accessible, high-quality pathways into AI safety, from introductory courses to advanced technical and governance education. We give people the knowledge, skills and context needed to begin contributing to the field and progress towards more substantial roles.
Projects. SAIN develops talent and expands the Netherlands' contribution to the global AI safety field. SAIN hosts a national AI Safety Project Hub, connecting experienced supervisors with emerging talent to produce valuable projects, including peer-reviewed research at top-tier global conferences. The projects span from technical AI safety to AI policy to field-building, finishing projects that contribute to the international field.
The SAIN Talent Pipeline
SAIN provides a structured pathway from first contact to career-level contribution, with clear steps and support at every stage.
| Level | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No engagement | Has not encountered AI safety |
| 1 | Initial engagement | Attends a SAIN event, reads a Substack post, sees content on social media |
| 2 | Foundational learning | Completes a SAIN course, joins a discussion group |
| 3 | Real contribution | Joins a Project Hub project, participates in a campaign, joins a chapter team |
| 4 | Structured development | Undertakes a full-time, paid fellowship or internship in AI safety |
| 5 | Professional impact | Works full-time in AI safety, policy, research, industry, or civil society; leads a SAIN project |
SAIN mainly focuses on levels 0 to 3 (while providing minor support for levels 4 and 5, e.g., through writing referral letters or connecting people). Our pipeline has two critical transitions where people are most likely to disengage:
- Level 0 to 1: Getting someone unfamiliar with AI safety to engage for the first time. This is where events, social media, and word-of-mouth matter most.
- Level 2 to 3: Moving someone who has learned about AI safety into making a meaningful contribution. This is where the Project Hub, structured projects, and mentorship are essential.
SAIN's four pillars directly address both: Communications and Events lower the barrier to entry; Education builds the foundation; the Project Hub and structured programmes scaffold deep contributions.
A Journey Through the Talent Pipeline
Sara is a mathematics master's student in Groningen. She has never heard of AI safety (level 0). A friend (who likes the community aspect of SAIN Groningen) brings her to a local hackathon gathering we host. The hackathon is challenging and the people working with Sara are serious about coming up with a good solution; she joins the Discord community (level 1).
The next semester she applies and is selected for our technical AI safety course. After finishing the course, her cohort continues as a discussion group after receiving the certificate (level 2). A facilitator flags her as unusually strong and personally invites her to a Project Hub project on mechanistic interpretability; six months in, the team's write-up is accepted at a NeurIPS workshop: her first real AI safety contribution (level 3).
At that point the national layer takes over the handoff: we connect her to programmes and roles above us in the pipeline. Specifically, Sara went on to secure a spot in a fellowship on theoretical alignment, shifting from mechanistic interpretability to open-source game theory. Eighteen months after the hackathon she works as an independent researcher on AI safety full-time.
Every pillar, every team member, and every chapter plays a role in broadening, strengthening, and advancing people along this path. The example above illustrates how an individual could progress (though there are many other paths) through SAIN's talent pipeline from level 0 to level 5.
SAIN's focus is primarily on levels 0 to 3. We will, as of now, be able to provide less support moving individuals from levels 3 to 5, and believe it is important to be as transparent as possible about this to prevent confusion about this. Progressing to the highest levels of the pipeline often depends on the opportunities available in the wider AI safety field: universities, governments, research institutions, AI labs, and other organisations must open roles for safety talent to apply and deepen their skills.
Importantly, progressing further through the pipeline is not the only valuable outcome. People who develop a strong understanding of AI and AI safety can contribute across society, in their professions, institutions, communities, and public lives. A more AI-safety-literate society is itself an important part of ensuring that the development and integration of AI goes well.
A National Ecosystem
SAIN's chapter model is the vehicle through which our vision scales. A strong central identity provides strategy, legal status, brand authority, financial infrastructure, shared resources, and proven operational playbooks. Local chapters run their own activities, build their own communities, and forge their own partnerships. Crucially, they never have to start from scratch.
A new chapter does not need to register a foundation, set up accounting, or develop a curriculum from nothing. They adopt the SAIN brand and hit the ground running.
This balance (local freedom within a shared national framework) is what allows SAIN to scale without losing the grassroots energy that makes local communities thrive. Each new chapter extends SAIN's reach, strengthens the national brand, and demonstrates the model's scalability.
Looking Ahead
SAIN is at the beginning of its journey as a national organisation, but it builds on a strong foundation. The operational model has been proven in Groningen. The playbooks are being adopted in Amsterdam and Utrecht. The Project Hub is running tens of projects, among them work at the highest academic level. The course has educated over a hundred individuals.
The Netherlands has world-class universities, a concentrated tech ecosystem, and a culture of institutional trust and collaboration. There are strong foundations for building a thriving, authoritative, and impactful AI safety movement.
SAIN's ambition is to turn those foundations into lasting capacity: building the talent pipeline and field infrastructure the Netherlands needs.
SAIN intends to build the talent here and now.