Become a Founding Pilot Institution

The opportunity

ICI is selecting a small cohort of founding pilot institutions to help build and test the first open-source governance infrastructure for AI-integrated institutional decision-making.

This is not a compliance audit. It is not a vendor relationship. It is an invitation to help shape the public standard -- and to be recognized as one of the institutions that did.

Founding pilot status is free. It will not remain available indefinitely.

What pilots receive

A tailored governance diagnostic identifying where AI-mediated decisions currently lack traceability, contestability, and documented authority
Collaborative workflow redesign with ICI's interdisciplinary team -- spanning employment law, AI risk architecture, democratic participation, and philosophical integration
Early access to the Coherence Checker prototype, ICI's open-source governance middleware
A pilot case study published in ICI's inaugural public report -- establishing your institution as a trusted early adopter of public AI governance infrastructure
Permanent recognition as a Founding Pilot Institution in ICI's public record

What pilots commit to

Genuine engagement with the governance process -- not performative participation
Willingness to surface real decisions for review, not sanitized hypotheticals
Publication of a standardized audit summary (format provided by ICI) upon pilot completion
Participation in at least one ICI convening during the pilot period

Who we're looking for

ICI's founding cohort will include three institution types:

A team within a large corporation or government agency committed to demonstrating that accountability is possible at scale, even where the parent institution hasn't yet mandated it.
A foundation or nonprofit operating under legitimacy obligations that require more than principles -- organizations whose funders, beneficiaries, and communities deserve verifiable accountability.
An AI-native company or research institution building or deploying AI systems and ready to demonstrate that speed and coherence are not in conflict.

We are not looking for institutions that have already solved this problem (if any truly exist). We are looking for institutions honest enough to name where they haven't -- and courageous enough to build the infrastructure publicly.

Why now

The administration has declined to create a public regulatory agency for AI. The governance vacuum will be filled -- either by public infrastructure built in everyone's interest, or by proprietary products built in the interest of those who can afford them.

Early contribution to AI's public regulatory infrastructure will become one of the most important credibility markers in this field. The institutions that helped build the foundation will be the ones the next era trusts to implement it.

How to apply

Stage 1: Submit a brief expression of interest (5 questions, approximately 10 minutes). ICI will review and invite selected institutions to Stage 2.
Stage 2: A 30-minute conversation with ICI's founding team, followed by a short written application.

We are accepting Stage 1 expressions of interest on a rolling basis throughout April, with selection anticipated for the last week of April. The founding cohort will be small and selected for diversity of institution type, honest engagement, and genuine alignment with ICI's public-interest mission.

Stage 1: Expression of Interest

ICI Founding Pilot Cohort

Approximately 10 minutes. No wrong answers -- we are looking for honesty, not polish.

First name

Last name

Company name

Position

Each of the following fields are limited to 2,000 characters.

1. Tell us about your institution. What does your organization do, and roughly how many people does it employ or serve? What is your role?

2. Where does AI currently touch your institutional decisions? This might include hiring, performance review, resource allocation, communications, research, procurement, public-benefit administration, or other areas. You don't need a complete inventory.

3. Where is the gap? What decisions are currently made without adequate documentation, contestability, or transparency? Where do you sense that your institution's stated values and its operational reality are not fully aligned?

4. Why now? What is making this the right moment for your institution? Internal pressure, a specific incident, leadership change, or simply a recognition that the window is narrowing -- tell us what's true.

5. What would success look like for you? Not for ICI -- for your institution. What would you want to be able to say, at the end of a pilot engagement, that you cannot say today?

Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Selected institutions will be invited to a 30-minute Stage 2 conversation within two weeks of submission.

ICI does not share expression of interest submissions publicly. Your candor here is protected.