AgenTrust Fellowship: Building Trust in AI Agents

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a bigger part of our lives. But how can we be sure that AI agents are working correctly and safely? The AgenTrust Fellowship is a program designed to help create open standards for AI agents that we can trust. This fellowship offers a chance for engineers, researchers, and people who work with rules and governance to help build the systems that make AI verifiable.

The AgenTrust Fellowship is a six-month program. It is part-time, meaning you can do it while still working at your current job. The program is paid, and it focuses on building the open infrastructure needed for verifiable AI. This means creating the tools and standards that allow AI agents to be checked and proven to work as intended.

Key Takeaways

• The AgenTrust Fellowship is a paid, part-time, six-month program focused on creating open standards for trustworthy AI agents.
• Fellows will work on improving open-source systems for AI governance, confidential computing, and runtime verification.
• The program is seeking security engineers, PhD students/postdocs in specific fields, and AI governance practitioners.
• Participants will receive a stipend and guidance from OPAQUE’s Chief Platform Officer, contributing to verifiable AI development.

What is the AgenTrust Fellowship?

The AgenTrust Fellowship is a paid, part-time program that lasts for six months. It’s looking for people who are good at engineering, research, and understanding how to govern systems. The goal is to help create the open infrastructure that makes AI agents verifiable. This means making sure we can check how AI agents work and confirm they are safe and reliable.

The first group of fellows will start in September 2026. There will be three to five fellows in this first group. This fellowship is designed so that participants do not have to quit their current jobs. Fellows will work with Imran Siddique, who is the Chief Platform Officer at OPAQUE and created the Agent Governance Toolkit (AGT). They will help improve the open AgenTrust system and work on the next generation of standards for verifiable AI.

What Will Fellows Do?

Over the six months, fellows will work on different parts of the AgenTrust open-source system. They will face real challenges in areas like AI governance, confidential computing, and runtime verification. This work could involve improving the open standards for AI agent identity. It could also involve protecting sensitive AI models and data while they are being used. Another area of work is developing cryptographic proof that lets companies and regulators check how AI systems behaved. This will be done across various open AgenTrust projects like TRACE, Agent Manifest, Confidential MCP, and the AGT.

Benefits of the Fellowship

Fellows will receive a stipend between $30,000 and $50,000 for the entire six-month period. This is a paid opportunity to contribute to important AI research. Fellows will get direct guidance from Imran Siddique. They will contribute code, create specifications, and offer technical advice for the AgenTrust open-source system. Each fellow will also create a public technical piece of work. This could be a research paper, a presentation at a conference, or an engineering blog post.

Who Can Apply?

The fellowship is looking for specific types of people:

• Security Engineers: Those who have experience testing agent systems and want to help build the systems that keep them safe, rather than just pointing out problems.
• PhD Students and Postdocs: Individuals studying formal verification, distributed systems, or attestation. These are advanced areas of computer science.
• AI Governance and Compliance Practitioners: People who understand AI rules and can turn what auditors need into policies that computers can follow.

How to Apply

The first group of fellows will start in September 2026. To be chosen, applicants need to submit a technical proposal. This proposal should explain how they plan to contribute to the AgenTrust system.

You can apply directly through this link: Click here to apply.

For more details about the fellowship, you can visit the AgenTrust Fellowship page: AgenTrust Fellowship.

Conclusion

The AgenTrust Fellowship is a valuable opportunity for those looking to shape the future of AI. By focusing on open standards and verifiable AI agents, this program aims to build more trust and transparency in artificial intelligence. If you have a background in security, research, or AI governance, consider applying to be part of this important initiative.

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