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The Jon Vlachogiannis Fund

Welcome to the Jon Vlachogiannis Fund, a nonprofit supporting entrepreneurs, scientists, and bold thinkers who are building ideas that shape the future and change the world.

This is an experimental platform for a future Superintelligence Fund, and it will evolve as I learn and iterate. Thank you for bearing with me.

Every year, I will provide funding to support people working on different ideas and projects.

This round is called The Superintelligence Scholars Program.

Expect rough corners as my motto is:

Move fast and stumble rather than not do it at all.

What the Program offers:

  1. Round-trip airfare to the United States

  2. Hotel or Airbnb accommodations for the full duration of the conference

  3. A $500 per diem to cover meals, local transportation, and incidentals

  4. Access to internship opportunities at leading companies and universities worldwide

Eligibility for The Superintelligence Scholars Program

To be eligible, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  1. Eligible applicants must be a student or researcher based in Greece and have an accepted paper, poster, or workshop submission at a recognized conference advancing artificial superintelligence, machine learning, biological intelligence, or alignment research.

  2. Preference will be given to applicants with papers accepted at widely recognized, high-impact international conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI, BIO International, or equivalent venues in their respective fields. Read below for a curated list of approved conferences. Suggestions of strong interdisciplinary conferences and workshops are welcome.

  3. Eligible applicants must be an individual, not a company. Eligible applicants must be presenting a paper or an idea, not a commercial product. Future programs may support companies, this program is currently focused exclusively on students and researchers.

What I ask in return

Nothing :) Ok, maybe wear our swag at the conference and a selfie?

Just be a good human and make your future self proud. I was once helped on my own journey to Silicon Valley, and it changed my life. My present self is pretty happy — and I hope this support helps shape your story too..

Epic Conferences

We love epic conferences where the future is being built. If you are presenting a paper or an idea at a world-class venue, we want to help you get there. Here's a sample list of conferences held all over the world. Keep in mind only conferences in the US are approved at this time.

Title Industry / Focus Best For Website
NeurIPS Machine learning, AGI, neuroscience, alignment PhD students, postdocs, exceptional early researchers https://neurips.cc
ICML Core machine learning, theory, optimization Advanced students, PhDs, research-driven founders https://icml.cc
ICLR Deep learning, representations, interpretability MSc students, PhDs, early researchers https://iclr.cc
AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence, reasoning, cognition Students, early-career researchers https://aaai.org/conference/aaai
AGI Conference Artificial general intelligence, cognitive architectures, alignment Students, PhDs, independent researchers https://agi-conf.org
COSYNE Computational neuroscience, biological intelligence Advanced PhDs, postdocs https://www.cosyne.org
CCN Brain-inspired learning, cognition Students, interdisciplinary researchers https://ccneuro.org
CNS Neural computation, intelligence modeling MSc students, PhDs https://www.cnsorg.org
ISMB AI for biology, computational life sciences Students, PhDs, bio-AI researchers https://www.iscb.org/ismb
RECOMB Computational genomics, algorithms MSc students, PhDs https://recomb.org
MLCB Machine learning × biology Students, early-stage researchers https://mlcb.cc

If your conference is "epic" but not on this list, don't worry, apply anyway and tell us why it's a game-changer!

How to apply

Click here to apply.

Have in mind that if you DON'T meet the eligibility criteria, you won't get a reply.

- Wed 17 December 2025

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