PauseAI Roadmap and Funding Scenarios

Current situation

PauseAI Global is the international coordinating body of the PauseAI federation. We support and coordinate national chapters across 15+ countries, train organisers, run global campaigns, and build the infrastructure that turns growing public concern about AI into organised political pressure.

As of April 2026, we have a six-person team:

Maxime Fournes (CEO)
Irina Tavera (Organising Director)
Jonathan Moody (Communications Director)
Country organisers for the UK and France

The France role has now transitioned to PauseAI France’s own payroll, and the UK roles transition to PauseAI UK at the end of June 2026.

See our funding page for up-to-date info on how much we’ve received and from whom.

Theory of change in brief

Good policy proposals for AI governance already exist. Public concern about AI is surging. The missing link is an organised political constituency that converts concern into political action. PauseAI Global builds that constituency. We complement policy organisations who design specific proposals by building the movement that demands their adoption.

A pause on frontier AI development requires multi-jurisdiction simultaneous pressure: coordinated domestic mobilisation in several major countries at once. A federation of national chapters running coordinated campaigns is the structure designed to produce exactly that. For more detail, see our Theory of Change.

Funding Scenarios

The scenarios below describe what PauseAI Global can do at different funding levels over a 12-month period. They reflect a calibration exercise in early 2026, mapping our theory of change to the resources actually required to execute it.

Scenario 0: Minimum (€300k)

Sustains the core team and a minimal level of programme activity. We maintain the executive team (CEO, Organising Director, Communications Director) and keep the federation infrastructure running, but cannot complete the team needed to scale operations. Programme activity is limited to two PauseCon conference, modest chapter support, and two coordinated global campaigns. New hiring is paused.

This is the level at which the organisation continues to exist and function, but does not grow.

Scenario 1: Base (€900k)

Completes the eight-person team that coordinates the global federation and sustains core programme activity.

New hires (in priority order):

Operations Director: manages finances, HR, tech, contractor relationships, compliance and reporting (currently absorbed by the CEO).
Development / Fundraising Director: builds a sustainable funding pipeline so the organisation is never one grant away from closing down.
Regional Organiser (1): dedicated coordinator for a high-potential region (likely continental Europe or Asia-Pacific).
Policy / Strategy Director: maintains relationships with policy partners, develops our asks, briefs politicians who need detailed proposals.
Regional Organiser (2): second regional coordinator, extending federation support.

Programme activity:

Two PauseCon conferences per year (training the next generation of organisers).
Quarterly coordinated global campaigns across all chapters.
Meaningful seed funding for 8+ chapters: local events, materials, protests, legal setup.
At least two coordinated global protests.
Sustained CEO media presence, thought leadership, press releases, video content.
Investment in developing chapters in Asia, including China.

Scenario 2: Ambitious (€3.5M)

Funds three capabilities the base tier cannot deliver.

Sustained narrative production. Two Content Creators, a Social Media Lead, a PR firm retainer for crisis communications and warning-shot amplification, and a Chief of Staff managing culture and onboarding. Together these enable continuous public-facing narrative on frontier AI risk rather than reactive communications.

Paid-media capacity (€1M PR campaigns budget). The first paid-reach operation in PauseAI Global’s history. Earned media has a ceiling: the audiences who already read those outlets. Paid campaigns reach the communities we need next: students entering an AI-disrupted labour market, workers in sectors already being automated, democracy advocates tracking AI’s effects on elections.

Treaty-lane infrastructure. Two Senior Public Affairs Directors embedded in priority jurisdictions (likely UK and EU), a Legal Advisor on retainer for multi-jurisdiction regulatory expertise, and Regional Organiser capacity expanded from two to five. This staffing lets us carry a coordinated policy ask across multiple governments simultaneously.

Programme budgets scale with staff. PauseCons become serious international convenings with paid speakers, policymaker guests, and professional production. Chapter seed funding rises to €400k, supporting 8+ chapters substantively. Protest capacity expands to enable more coordinated cross-jurisdiction actions.

Scenario 3: Maximum (€8.5M)

The maximum we estimate we could meaningfully absorb in 12 months. Funds the ambitious tier plus four additional capabilities:

Chapter seeding at scale (~€1M). Direct seed funding and operational support for ten or more new chapters in priority jurisdictions. A portfolio bet: not all ten will develop into high-performing chapters, but five or six outstanding chapters could match the trajectories of PauseAI UK, France and Germany.
Incubation of adjacent organisations (~€1.5M). Funding to spin up two or three organisations the pause ecosystem currently lacks. Candidates include a dedicated elite defection capture organisation (legal cover, platforming and journalist relationships for AI company whistleblowers), a warning shot conversion media operation, and a specialised treaty-lane policy organisation.
Direct country-leadership funding (~€1.5M). Dedicated funding for country-level leadership in four or five priority jurisdictions where chapters are not yet self-sustaining, allowing them to stand up without premature self-sustainment pressure.
Substantial paid-media capacity (~€1M additional). Sustained public affairs advertising in priority jurisdictions, complementing earned media and creating sustained presence across the news cycle.