About this Grant Program:
We’re announcing a new program from our safety systems organization to fund research proposals that explore the intersection of AI and mental health. Read more about it at: https://openai.com/index/ai-mental-health-research-grants/
How to apply
Submissions are open today through December 19, 2025, 11:59 PM PST. A panel of internal researchers and experts will review applications on a rolling basis and notify selected proposals on or before January 15th, 2026.
Contact mentalhealthresearchgrants@openai.com for any questions. Note that we will not be providing status updates for individual applications that are not selected.
FAQ:
What kinds of topics are you looking for?
We present these potential topics of exploration as examples, but this is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all potential research directions. Successful proposals can pertain to topics that are not included on this list.
Potential areas of interest include:
How expressions of distress, delusion, or other mental health-related language vary across cultures and languages, and how these differences affect detection or interpretation by AI systems
Perspectives from individuals with lived experience on what feels safe, supportive, or harmful when interacting with AI-powered chatbots
How mental healthcare providers currently use AI tools, including what is effective, what falls short, and where safety risks emerge
The potential of AI systems to promote healthy, pro-social behaviors and reduce harm
The robustness of existing AI model safeguards to vernacular, slang, and under-represented linguistic patterns—particularly in low-resource languages
How AI systems should adjust tone, style, and framing when responding to youth and adolescents to ensure that guidance feels age-appropriate, respectful, and accessible, with deliverables such as evaluation rubrics, style guidelines, or annotated examples of effective vs. ineffective phrasing across age groups
How stigma associated with mental illness may surface in language model recommendations or interaction styles
How AI systems interpret or respond to visual indicators related to body dysmorphia or eating disorders, including the creation of ethically collected, annotated multimodal datasets and evaluation tasks that capture common real-world patterns of distress
How AI systems can provide compassionate, sensitive support to individuals experiencing grief -- helping them process loss, maintain connections, and access coping resources -- along with deliverables such as exemplar response patterns, tone/style guidelines, or evaluation rubrics for assessing supportive grief-related interactions
What kinds of outputs are you expecting from funded projects?
We’re sharing illustrative examples of deliverables below to help spark proposals, but these are by no means exhaustive:
Research papers that aim to gather evidence around the above areas of interest, or related matters
Taxonomies of model behavior in sensitive contexts that could be further improved
Culturally or linguistically diverse datasets
Prototype interaction flows showing contextually appropriate conversational patterns
Who can I contact for any questions about this grant?
Email mentalhealthresearchgrants@openai.com. Note that we will not be providing status updates for individual applications that are not selected.
What are the eligibility criteria for this funding?
Must be 18 or older
Affiliated with a research institution or organization, and/or significant experience with mental health
We are seeking to fund research rather than for-profit initiatives, so we will not prioritize for profit organizations at this time
What budgets are available for each project?
We will award targeted research grants with proposed budgets between $5,000 and $100,000, totaling up to $2 million.
Allowable costs under this award include all reasonable and necessary direct and indirect costs incurred in the performance of the funded activities, consistent with the recipient’s institutional policies.
Are these grants funded by OpenAI Foundation or OpenAI Group PBC?
The grants are funded and administered by OpenAI Group PBC. This program is separate from our People-First AI Fund and other initiatives from the OpenAI Foundation.
OpenAI's AI and Mental Health Grant Program
About this Grant Program:
We’re announcing a new program from our safety systems organization to fund research proposals that explore the intersection of AI and mental health. Read more about it at: https://openai.com/index/ai-mental-health-research-grants/
How to apply
Submissions are open today through December 19, 2025, 11:59 PM PST. A panel of internal researchers and experts will review applications on a rolling basis and notify selected proposals on or before January 15th, 2026.
Contact mentalhealthresearchgrants@openai.com for any questions. Note that we will not be providing status updates for individual applications that are not selected.
FAQ:
What kinds of topics are you looking for?
We present these potential topics of exploration as examples, but this is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all potential research directions. Successful proposals can pertain to topics that are not included on this list.
Potential areas of interest include:
How expressions of distress, delusion, or other mental health-related language vary across cultures and languages, and how these differences affect detection or interpretation by AI systems
Perspectives from individuals with lived experience on what feels safe, supportive, or harmful when interacting with AI-powered chatbots
How mental healthcare providers currently use AI tools, including what is effective, what falls short, and where safety risks emerge
The potential of AI systems to promote healthy, pro-social behaviors and reduce harm
The robustness of existing AI model safeguards to vernacular, slang, and under-represented linguistic patterns—particularly in low-resource languages
How AI systems should adjust tone, style, and framing when responding to youth and adolescents to ensure that guidance feels age-appropriate, respectful, and accessible, with deliverables such as evaluation rubrics, style guidelines, or annotated examples of effective vs. ineffective phrasing across age groups
How stigma associated with mental illness may surface in language model recommendations or interaction styles
How AI systems interpret or respond to visual indicators related to body dysmorphia or eating disorders, including the creation of ethically collected, annotated multimodal datasets and evaluation tasks that capture common real-world patterns of distress
How AI systems can provide compassionate, sensitive support to individuals experiencing grief -- helping them process loss, maintain connections, and access coping resources -- along with deliverables such as exemplar response patterns, tone/style guidelines, or evaluation rubrics for assessing supportive grief-related interactions
What kinds of outputs are you expecting from funded projects?
We’re sharing illustrative examples of deliverables below to help spark proposals, but these are by no means exhaustive:
Research papers that aim to gather evidence around the above areas of interest, or related matters
Taxonomies of model behavior in sensitive contexts that could be further improved
Culturally or linguistically diverse datasets
Prototype interaction flows showing contextually appropriate conversational patterns
Who can I contact for any questions about this grant?
Email mentalhealthresearchgrants@openai.com. Note that we will not be providing status updates for individual applications that are not selected.
What are the eligibility criteria for this funding?
Must be 18 or older
Affiliated with a research institution or organization, and/or significant experience with mental health
We are seeking to fund research rather than for-profit initiatives, so we will not prioritize for profit organizations at this time
What budgets are available for each project?
We will award targeted research grants with proposed budgets between $5,000 and $100,000, totaling up to $2 million.
Allowable costs under this award include all reasonable and necessary direct and indirect costs incurred in the performance of the funded activities, consistent with the recipient’s institutional policies.
Are these grants funded by OpenAI Foundation or OpenAI Group PBC?
The grants are funded and administered by OpenAI Group PBC. This program is separate from our People-First AI Fund and other initiatives from the OpenAI Foundation.