Each award
$5,000
Terac credits
Why we are funding academic research
Academic research gives us knowledge that people and companies can build on for decades. It also gives researchers room to pursue questions whose value may take years to become clear. We believe that work deserves support.
Part of our mission at Terac is to make human expertise more accessible. We hope the launch of the Terac Scholars is another step towards bringing this mission to life.
The awards
Our first cohort will include ten scholars, each receiving $5,000 in Terac credits. Credits pay for access to Terac's expert network for human data.
Awards
10
In the first cohort
Credits cover
Expert compensation and recruitment costs.
The Terac network
Engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, and more.
$50,000 total allocation
We hope this is the first of many cohorts.
Focus areas
We're most interested in research on how well AI handles real expert work.
AI agents
- Agents handling long legal, finance and consulting work
- How agents use tools, keep memory, coordinate and work unsupervised
Professional fields
- Testing AI on software work beyond resolving single issues
- AI doing the daily work of accountants and finance teams
- Frontier research problems in math, biology, physics and materials science
Evaluation methods
- Whether high benchmark scores hold up on realistic tasks and workflows
- Rubric design, contamination resistance, and how often human and model graders agree
Who should apply?
You do not need to be an existing Terac customer or commit to any spending past this award.
- Faculty
- Postdoctoral researchers
- Graduate researchersWith a faculty supervisor
- Researchers at nonprofit institutes
What we review
The research question, study design, expert requirements and feasibility.
What we expect
Recipients publish a paper or dataset the research community can openly use.
How to apply
Tell us what you want to learn and why you need these experts.
- A proposalUp to 500 words
- Your expert requirements
- A budget
- Your proposed timeline
Applications due
November 6th, 11:59pm PT
Decisions shared
Within two weeks
Plan and budget agreed
With Terac, before launch
Apply by
Friday, November 6th11:59pm PT
Decisions will be shared within two weeks of the application deadline.
Apply
Questions: terac-scholars@terac.com