The Sentient Foundation, a nonprofit focused on keeping artificial general intelligence open and decentralized, has allocated $42 million to developers, researchers, and companies building artificial general intelligence in the open, according to information shared with Finbold on June 24, 2026.
The Open Source AGI Grant and Investment Program represents one of the largest funding commitments dedicated exclusively to open source AGI development.
The program combines non-dilutive grants with founder-friendly investments, designed to accelerate ecosystem growth where critical AI infrastructure, models, tools and applications remain openly available.
This initiative comes as billions of dollars continue to flow into private AI platforms, leaving the open source ecosystem without dedicated funding mechanisms capable of supporting developers and startups at scale.
“The future of intelligence must be built by the many, not controlled by the few.” said Sachi Kamiya, Project and Growth Director at Sentient Foundation. “Some companies are trying to become the OPEC of intelligence — measuring it, pricing it, deciding who gets it. We’re putting it on the air.”
Grants and investments targeting multiple stages of development
The program works through two paths. The grant track is intended for researchers, open source stewards, independent developers, and public good initiatives, providing funding without equity requirements, ownership claims, or restrictions on future development.
The investment track targets startups and teams developing businesses around open source AI technologies, using founder-friendly structures designed to help teams scale while maintaining a commitment to openness.
Applicants will be evaluated on technical merit, ecosystem impact, openness, and long-term potential. Projects do not need to open source every component of their suite to qualify, at least one core component must be openly available and meaningfully contribute to project value and adoption. Applications are open immediately and will be reviewed on a periodic basis.
To guide the program, the foundation convenes an advisory board that includes respected figures from the open source AI community. The initiative is being launched with support from Alibaba Cloud, Franklin Templeton, Princeton University, and the Indian Institute of Science, and additional partners are expected to be announced in the coming months.
“Open models are improving at an extraordinary pace.” Kamiya said. “And when they catch up, and they will, the people who build on them should win, not pay rent on intelligence forever.
Featured image via Shutterstock.
