FLI / Protect What's Human evidence notes

Research cutoff: 2026-09-05. Public-source inquiry only. All listed read states refer to this run. No outreach, accounts, private access, payments or publication. This document is a research handoff, not an allegation of wrongdoing.

Findings that change the story

Paid, directed creator work is established by primary sources. There are two mechanisms whose budgets and counts must remain separate: FLI's Digital Media Accelerator (DMA), and the Protect What's Human campaign offered through People First. DMA's application asks applicants to explain alignment with FLI's AI position and their own views, estimates organic impressions, and advertises planned support of up to USD 100,000 monthly across projects. Public wording contemplates limited constructive proposal feedback. People First's campaign describes following directions, submitting drafts, receiving feedback, publishing and receiving payment. Its current general terms go further: prepublication approvals, adherence to approved messaging, revision/removal rights, and possible withholding of compensation. Those terms also require FTC endorsement/disclosure compliance, forbid unsubstantiated claims and artificial engagement. These facts establish sponsored advocacy and editorial conditions; they do not establish undisclosed sponsorship in any particular post. The campaign-specific statement of work and completed creator payments remain unobserved. Sources S4-S6.

FLI publicly launched the national Protect What's Human ad campaign on February 9, 2026, with a ceiling of up to USD 8 million and initial six/seven-figure investments in Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan and North Carolina. This is an announced campaign envelope, not an audited amount spent or an influencer-only budget. S7.

The strongest financial finding is a related-endowment loop. FLI's 2022 IRS return reports a USD 162,587,667 transfer of cash/public securities to Lightcone Foundation, alongside USD 180,297,079 in cash/financial assets to FLI Europe and USD 25,025,000 cash to Future of Life Foundation. FLI's 2024 return then identifies Lightcone as a USD 21,050,000 contributor. This is 99.590% of FLI's USD 21,136,620 contributions that year (own calculation). The matching USD 21.05m appears in the audited cashflow as noncash investment contributions. Thus the large 2024 contribution is evidence of funding from an affiliated holding/grantmaking entity, not evidence of USD 21m newly raised from an independent outside donor. FLI-alone assets fell after asset transfers; do not call that disappearance or expenditure on persuasion. S1-S3.

FLI's current finance page reports 2025 expenditure of USD 46.192m, including USD 26.724m grants and USD 5.795m media/outreach; it says contributed income was approximately USD 37,000 and investment income USD 152,000, with the gap covered by funds functioning as an endowment. The page says these figures derive from independently audited statements, but the underlying complete 2025 audit was not obtained. The latest FLI IRS return located covers 2024, not 2025. S8.

The donor association does not by itself establish donor control. FLI describes Vitalik Buterin as by far its largest donor and the 2021 gift as unconditional; it says he has no formal or informal decision role, and makes Jaan Tallinn, a longstanding director, the exception to its donor-influence disclaimer. In March 2026 Buterin publicly criticized the later shift toward cultural/political action. His X post could not be read directly (403), so the roughly USD 500m SHIB liquidation figure and disagreement remain a donor account carried in reporting, not a verified liquidation ledger. Cointelegraph also carries Anthony Aguirre's reply emphasizing shared goals and continuing work on coordination, epistemics and technical safeguards. S8, S15. FLI's contemporaneous June 2021 announcement corroborates Buterin/Shiba Inu support and a USD 25m multiyear grant PROGRAM; that is not the total donation. S9.

Entity and governance resolution

FLI: Future of Life Institute, EIN 47-1052538, Pennsylvania legal domicile, formed 2014, section 501(c)(3). The 2024 return reports five voting board members, two independent, 29 employees. It identifies Anthony N Aguirre, Mihaela Chita-Tegmark, Max Tegmark, Jaan Tallinn and Viktoriya Krakovna as directors/officers. Current website presents the same five under current names/roles: Anthony Aguirre (President and CEO), Jaan Tallinn (director), Max Tegmark (Founder and Chair), Meia Chita-Tegmark (Board Secretary), Victoria Krakovna (director). These are different date states, not contradictory office labels. S1, S11.

Lightcone Foundation: EIN 92-0636259, Nevada, section 501(c)(3); this is NOT proven to be Lightcone Infrastructure/LessWrong, Lightcone Commons, or the unrelated Pittsburgh physics Lightcone Foundation. Name-based conflation would create a false network. Its 2024 IRS-derived overview gives net assets USD 174,320,788, assets USD 174,375,915, liabilities USD 55,127, and no contributions. Reported board officers include Max Tegmark, Anthony Aguirre and Mihaela Chita-Tegmark; shared names are direct governance overlap with FLI. Full 2024 Lightcone filing did not render in web and XML download failed, so recipient detail in that return was not independently inspected. S13.

FLI 2024 Schedule R lists related tax-exempt entities: Lightcone Foundation; Future of Life Foundation (88-0926067); Improve the News Foundation (85-3391849); Beneficial AI Foundation (88-4400777); Civil Liberties Foundation (92-1349292); Social AI Research Institute (92-1366102); Future of Life Institute Europe (Swiss domicile). Its controlling-entity column names multiple affiliates. Treat as reported related/control relationships; do not simplify into a unidirectional parent/subsidiary tree without organizational documents. Schedule R explicitly reports sharing employees with FLF (USD 400,365) and BAIF (USD 66,273); reimbursements USD 286,738 from FLI to FLF and USD 73,577 from BAIF to FLI. Amounts are the filing's involved-transaction amounts, not independent donations. S1.

Current operational roles relevant to messaging: Ben Cumming communications director; Maggie Munro communications strategist; Chase Hardin US communications manager; Mark Brakel global policy director; Ben Eisenpress operations director; Andrea Berman grants manager. S11. FLI's Tallinn biography says he is also a CAIS board member, active angel investor and former DeepMind investor-director. That confirms a governance bridge to CAIS, not any campaign coordination or an FLI donation from DeepMind. S12. FLI's Krakovna biography identifies her as a DeepMind AI safety scientist (current undated self-description, no independent employment check). Supplemental source below.

The current general people page contains no Elon Musk name or advisory roster. Historical Musk support is real, but current governing/advisory authority is not established here. FLI historical primary pages describe a USD 10m commitment in 2015, research-grant disbursements and a USD 2m 2018 allocation. These should not be equated to present campaign funding. Supplemental sources below.

FLI's conflict policy, adopted February 24, 2024, requires disclosure, independent determination and recusals, compensation comparables and records. It also says common nonprofit affiliations alone do not establish conflicts. This is evidence of written policy, not evidence it was followed in each transaction. S10.

Typed edge register

Amounts USD unless marked unknown. 'Confirmed report' means reported in opened primary filing/page; it does not mean independently audited by this investigation.

Financial snapshots that must not be conflated

2024 FLI, S1: revenue USD21,273,381; expenses USD17,399,051; assets USD6,348,222; net assets USD5,088,435; contributions USD21,136,620. S3 audit: cash USD440,106; investments USD3,684,898; digital assets USD31,395; noncash investment contributions USD21,050,000; proceeds from investment sales USD18,580,274. Noncash receipts and sale proceeds are distinct stages, not additive new donations.

2025 FLI, S8: expense USD46,192,000, grant category USD26,724,000, media/outreach USD5,795,000. No 2025 consolidated asset total established.

2024 Lightcone, S13: net assets USD174,320,788; expenses USD34,080,020; revenue USD9,723,116; contributions zero. Do not add its interaffiliate transfers to FLI expenses as independent public-persuasion spend.

Rival explanations and gaps

The direct evidence fits openly financed policy advocacy using standard creator-marketing contracts. Selection for preexisting agreement could create aligned content without changing creators' beliefs. Funding and approval create incentives and control over commissioned output, but cannot settle the truth of an AI-risk claim. Disclosure compliance in actual posts remains a separate empirical question.

The donor/endowment structure supports durable institutional independence from new annual fundraising and may explain strategic divergence from Buterin. Conversely common boards and concentrated reserve funding mean the number of small donors says little about effective financial concentration. Neither observation establishes corrupt influence.

No campaign-specific People First SOW, FLI-to-People-First invoice, itemized creator recipient/payment ledger, representative completed-post disclosure audit, or current consolidated endowment statements were obtained. USD665m commonly circulated as the 2021 gift was not verified from a primary valuation schedule here. Approximately USD500m liquidation is Buterin's reported recollection, not a cash-statement finding. Exact Jaan Tallinn lifetime gifts not established. Current Musk decision rights not established. Related nonprofits' shared control is documented but their full bylaws and all boards are not.

The Washington Post count is from April 18, 2026: 30 DMA projects funded since the program launched in 2025, attributed to Cumming. It is NOT evidence that the report itself appeared in 2025, nor a count of People First campaign posts. S14. Keep derived text from this source under its unusually strict 25-word web allowance in public-facing output.

Best source register (15)

S1. FLI Form 990 for calendar 2024, signed/filed November 7, 2025. OPENED AND TARGET-READ: Part I (PDF p1), Part III (p2), Part VII (p7), Schedule R (pp52,54); tables also screenshot-requested. Primary return on Candid. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2024/471/052/2024-471052538-202523119349303667-9.pdf

S2. FLI Form 990 for calendar 2022, filed January 30, 2025. OPENED AND TARGET-READ: Schedule N (PDF p49) and Schedule R (p55). Primary return on Candid. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2022/471/052/2022-471052538-202510309349301606-.pdf

S3. FLI audited financial statement tables, years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. OPENED AND READ all six pages: position p2, activities p3, functional expense p4-5, cashflows p6. Six-page public registry upload omits full auditor opinion/notes. https://www.lobbyregister.bundestag.de/media/25/9d/625474/2024-FLI-Audited-Financials.pdf

S4. FLI Digital Media Accelerator, undated current rolling application. OPENED AND READ; search extraction revealed complete application fields, including alignment, requested budget and planned USD100k/month. https://futureoflife.org/project/digital-media-accelerator/

S5. People First Protect What's Human campaign recruitment, undated current. OPENED AND READ. https://join.peoplefirst.cc/campaign/protectwhatshuman/

S6. People First Influencer Terms of Use, undated current. OPENED AND READ; sections 1-6, 9-13 most relevant. Scope of Work can supersede general terms. https://peoplefirst.cc/terms/

S7. FLI campaign launch press release, February 9, 2026. OPENED AND READ. https://futureoflife.org/press-release/fli-launches-multimillion-dollar-nationwide-ai-regulation-campaign/

S8. FLI Finances, undated current, covers 2025 and donor/conflict claims. OPENED AND READ. https://futureoflife.org/about-us/finances/

S9. FLI announces USD25m existential-risk grants program, June 3, 2021. OPENED AND READ. https://futureoflife.org/grantmaking/fli-announces-grants-program-for-existential-risk-reduction/

S10. FLI Conflict of Interest Policy, adopted February 24, 2024. OPENED AND READ four-page PDF. https://futureoflife.org/conflict-of-interest-policy/

S11. FLI Our People, undated current. OPENED AND READ board and functional leaders. https://futureoflife.org/about-us/our-people/

S12. FLI Jaan Tallinn biography, undated current. OPENED AND READ; CAIS board and former DeepMind investor-director. https://futureoflife.org/person/jaan-tallinn/

S13. Lightcone Foundation IRS-derived overview, latest 2024 filing dated May 5, 2026; site updated August 20, 2026. OPENED AND READ 2022-2024 summaries and officers. Full filing wrapper opened but document not rendered. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/920636259

S14. Washington Post, April 18, 2026, AI safety advocates ask content creators to tell the world of AI's dangers. OPENED AND READ relevant count/chronology sentence. SECONDARY and web allowance only 25 words. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/18/ai-doom-influencers-safety/

S15. Cointelegraph, March 13, 2026, updated March 16 with FLI response. OPENED AND READ. SECONDARY carrying donor account and direct Aguirre response. https://cointelegraph.com/news/vitalik-buterin-future-of-life-institute-shib-donation

Supplementary opened evidence and access boundaries

FLI FAQ corroborates donor-decision disclaimer and FLF mission division: https://futureoflife.org/frequently-asked-questions/ (opened/read).

Victoria Krakovna biography: https://futureoflife.org/person/victoria-krakovna/ (opened/read; identifies DeepMind scientist).

CoinDesk donor-disagreement account March 13, 2026: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/03/14/vitalik-buterin-recounts-how-shiba-inu-tokens-became-a-usd1-billion-ai-policy-war-chest (opened/read). Primary linked Buterin post https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2032296498181128441 returned 403, NOT READ directly.

FLI March 4, 2026 Pro-Human declaration announcement: https://futureoflife.org/press-release/statement-of-shared-principles-on-ai/ (opened/read; coalition endorsements not grants).

FLI 2015 Musk USD10m pledge / USD7m initial grants primary pages were SEARCH-READ ONLY, not opened, so lower-ready: https://futureoflife.org/ai/11m-ai-safety-research-program-launched/ ; https://futureoflife.org/newsletter/fli-september-2016-newsletter/ ; https://futureoflife.org/ai/2-million-donated-to-keep-artificial-general-intelligence-beneficial-and-robust/ . First says commitment; second says more than USD2m paid to 37 research teams by fall 2015; third says USD2m allocated in 2018. Do not sum automatically: may be tranches of original pledge.

FLI 2021 summary opened at https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/471052538 reports contributions USD670,530,459 and year-end assets USD537,164,374, but these are organization-wide amounts. Attempt to retrieve 2021 full IRS schedules failed (safe-open errors and XML security challenge); abandoned after alternate route. No inference that all contribution income was Buterin or cash.