OpenAI Cybersecurity Grant Program

OpenAI Cybersecurity Grant Program

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Openai Inc
Amount: US $10,000 - US $1,000,000
Last Updated: April 03, 2026

Summary

The OpenAI Cybersecurity Grant Program aims to enhance defensive cybersecurity through AI, distributing $1M in grants. It seeks to empower defenders, measure AI capabilities, and elevate discourse in cybersecurity. Projects should focus on practical applications of AI for public benefit, such as automating incident response or creating secure software. Strong preference is given to proposals that foster collaboration among defenders globally, ultimately shifting the dynamics of cybersecurity to prioritize safety and innovation.

Overview

NOTE: OpenAI will evaluate and accept applications for funding or other support on a rolling basis. OpenAI Cybersecurity Grant Program Update on February 5, 2026: We are evolving the Cybersecurity Grant Program to focus on large-scale deployment of our models to accelerate cyber defense. With the release of GPT‑5.3‑Codex, we are introducing Trusted Access for Cyber and committing $10M in API credits. Our goal is to facilitate the development of AI-powered cybersecurity capabilities for defenders through grants and other support. We are launching the Cybersecurity Grant Program—a $1M initiative to boost and quantify AI-powered cybersecurity capabilities and to foster high-level AI and cybersecurity discourse. Our goal is to work with defenders across the globe to change the power dynamics of cybersecurity through the application of AI and the coordination of like-minded individuals working for our collective safety. Our program seeks to: Empower defenders: We would like to ensure that cutting-edge AI capabilities benefit defenders first and most. Measure capabilities: We are working to develop methods for quantifying the cybersecurity capabilities of AI models, in order to better understand and improve their effectiveness. Elevate discourse: We are dedicated to fostering rigorous discussions at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, encouraging a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this domain. A traditional view in cybersecurity is that the landscape naturally advantages attackers over defenders. This is summed up in the well-worn axiom: “Defense must be correct 100% of the time, attackers only have to be right once.” While it may be true that attackers face fewer constraints and take advantage of their flexibility, defenders have something more valuable—coordination towards a common goal of keeping people safe. Below are some general project ideas that our team has put forward: Collect and label data from cyber defenders to train defensive cybersecurity agents Detect and mitigate social engineering tactics Automate incident triage Identify security issues in source code Assist network or device forensics Automatically patch vulnerabilities Optimize patch management processes to improve prioritization, scheduling, and deployment of security updates Develop or improve confidential compute on GPUs Create honeypots and deception technology to misdirect or trap attackers Assist reverse engineers in creating signatures and behavior based detections of malware Analyze an organization’s security controls and compare to compliance regimes Assist developers to create secure by design and secure by default software Assist end users to adopt security best practices Aid security engineers and developers to create robust threat models Produce threat intelligence with salient and relevant information for defenders tailored to their organization Help developers port code to memory safe languages Funding We will grant in increments of $10,000 USD from a fund of $1M USD, in the form of API credits, direct funding and/or equivalents.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. If you share our vision for a secure and innovative AI-driven future, we invite you to submit your proposals and join us in our aim towards enhancing defensive cybersecurity technologies.

Ineligibility

Offensive-security projects will not be considered for funding at this time.