The FPI aims to seed a new generation of deeply philosophical thinker-doers who will manifest technology’s destiny towards human flourishing.

Technology gives human intention extraordinary reach, making the values of its builders a matter of shared consequence. Directing that power toward human flourishing requires two faculties: the ethical faculty, which discerns what is worth creating, and the willing faculty, which brings it into being.

The ethical faculty asks what is worth wanting and what kind of life our creations would sustain. The willing faculty gives those judgments practical force through the discipline, persistence, and sacrifice that consequential work demands. Together, they allow a considered understanding of the good to take form in the world.

Commercial incentives complicate this relationship because financial reward and human benefit can diverge. For instance, social media platforms can profit by capturing a greater share of its users’ attention while diminishing their control over their time; AI agents can be used to erode users’ ability to think independently and make decisions, leading to default choices that favor lobbyists and politicians.

FPI, then, exists to cultivate thinker-doers who unite their ethical and willing capacities. We look for people whose convictions give their work direction, whose reasoning remains open to challenge, and whose ambition is informed by a serious account of human flourishing.

We have traced the root of this gap to leading US universities, who leave too much of the connection between intellectual formation and practical commitment to chance. Careerism has also dominated students’ mindshare, allowing prestige to settle questions that deserve independent thought.

We begin at the University of Chicago and Stanford, where this concern takes different forms. At Chicago, students are given a rigorous theoretical education but opportunities to apply them remain scarce. Students also succumb to extreme career pressures to enter fields like finance and consulting, which has disproportionately concentrated talent for decades.

At Stanford, our concern is the influence of Silicon Valley’s prevailing ambitions on students still forming their own. A university with such immense intellectual resources, with thinkers like Rene Girard at the top of its long list of brilliant faculty members, should be upstream of the industry, supplying it with purpose as well as talent. We want to support students there capable of developing an independent vision of technology’s role in a good human life—and building toward it.

These campuses provide the starting points for a wider inquiry. Across U.S. universities, we will seek communities where philosophical seriousness and practical ambition can develop together.

Cultivate campus communities and establish FPI chapters. We will support groups aligned with our mission and help individuals establish chapters across leading U.S. campuses. Through sustained inquiry, mentorship, and shared projects, these communities will give students the intellectual challenge and practical support to act on their convictions.

Fund exceptional individuals working on important problems. We will award grants to people of exceptional talent pursuing research or applied work in service of human flourishing. Our support will reflect the importance of the problem, the quality of the individual’s judgment, and their capacity to carry the work forward, including where conventional funding offers little room to begin.

Artificial intelligence gives this mission particular urgency. Decisions about its development could shape human agency, institutions, and opportunity for generations; as these systems become embedded in everyday life, their consequences may become increasingly difficult to reverse.

The generation now learning to build will help determine the purposes this technology serves. FPI exists to help them develop the judgment to choose those purposes wisely, the independence to stand behind them, and the will to make them real.