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2022
The reading group
Zurich AI Alignment (ZAIA) starts at ETH Zurich. A handful of PhD students reading papers together, with no funding and no organisation behind it.
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2022–23
First programmes
The group begins running speaker events, community gatherings and its first courses, including AI Safety Fundamentals in Zurich.
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16 Jul 2025
Association founded
Constituted as a Swiss non-profit association by ETH Zurich PhD students.
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27 Sep 2025
Zurich AI Safety Day
The first full-day event, run with BlueDot Impact and still entirely volunteer-led. Over 350 applications, more than 200 participants, 21 organisations, and Best Event at Swiss AI Weeks 2025 (out of 240).
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Feb 2026
First institutional grant
Coefficient Giving funds ZAIS's first paid roles, backing the case for a permanent AI safety ecosystem in Zurich: a place where researchers and professionals can enter the field and pursue careers in AI safety.
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7–8 Nov 2026
Swiss AI Safety Days
Two days at ETH Zurich, and one of the largest AI safety conferences in Europe. Around 300 researchers, engineers and policy people, 30 organisations exhibiting. The continuation of the first successful edition in 2025.
300Attendees30Organisations -
2026 and beyond
Technical talent transition and strong collaboration
Zurich has one of the densest pools of AI talent anywhere. We are scaling to help more researchers and professionals find their way into AI safety work. Our goals are to create more local opportunities and build stronger collaboration between technical research, policy and governance work.
About us
ZAIS is a Zurich-based community of students, researchers, and professionals working on the long-term safety of artificial intelligence.
A community built for outsized impact.
We are a non-profit organisation run by a diverse group of people, from students to working professionals, who share one interest: that AI development happens safely. Most of the work is planned and delivered by a growing team of volunteers, alongside their studies and day jobs.
Want to join the team?
We're always looking for organizers to help run our programmes, events, and community in Zurich.
The city is home to ETH Zurich, one of the world's leading science and technology universities, and hosts offices for several of the world's leading AI companies. Add Switzerland's long tradition of neutrality and diplomacy, and Zurich becomes something rare: a genuinely global meeting point for AI safety, where researchers, companies, and policymakers can meet on neutral ground.
That density is exactly why ZAIS exists here.
Community work at PEAKS
Much of ZAIS's community life happens at PEAKS, a coworking space in the heart of Zurich for people working in AI safety and effective altruism. The space offers meeting rooms and a library of AI safety and EA reading — plus a steady calendar of talks, lightning events, and casual coworking sessions run together with groups like EA Zurich and Apollo Research.
Visit us at PEAKS →8004 Zürich Google Maps →
Stay in the loop.
Follow our events on Luma or join our WhatsApp group to become part of the discussion.