evaluator; distance from a lab: 1
Epoch AI
Scorecard
Capability-tracking and benchmark nonprofit; the FrontierMath episode is the canonical undisclosed-funding case.
Nonprofit, Remote. Confidence high. Domains: benchmarks. Scores by preset: Lab procurement 64; Regulator or auditor 65; Public trust 64; Equal weights 69. Weakest dimension: funding 2/4.
What would move the score. A standing rule against confidential lab funding of any evaluation asset.
Funding 2/4
Labs pay per engagement; otherwise diversified.
evidence: tier 1 (filing/index)
Anchor 2 on funding given the cited signals. Curator disclosure (2026-09-15): the curator holds small public-market shareholdings in Google and Meta. This evaluator has a confirmed ledger tie to Google (contract row T35). Per the disclosure Rule, this assessment is flagged for public review: the rationale names the holding so readers can weigh it, and any reader can file a correction through the contribution path.
- OpenAI commissioned and owns most of FrontierMath and had the problems and solutions; a contract barred disclosing this until the o3 launch.
Clarifying the creation and use of the FrontierMath benchmark (Epoch AI, 2025-01-23) tier 3 selfconfirmed OpenAI quietly funded independent math benchmark (The Decoder, 2025-01-19) tier 4 pressconfirmed2026-09-14 - Primarily philanthropically funded (Open Philanthropy).
AI benchmarking organization criticized for waiting to disclose funding from OpenAI (TechCrunch, 2025-01-19) tier 4 pressconfirmed2026-09-14 - Transparency page lists Google DeepMind and OpenAI as paying consultation clients and a $600K Tallinn DAF gift; Coefficient grants of about $24.5M per index.
Transparency (Epoch AI, 2026) tier 3 selfconfirmed Coefficient Giving grants index (Coefficient Giving, 2026-09-11) tier 1 indeximported2026-09-11 - Transparency page lists eight Coefficient grants (largest $8,500,000 in April 2025; about $25M cumulative), a $600,000 Tallinn DAF gift, $195,000 from SFF, and paying clients including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, xAI, an Anthropic pilot, the EU AI Office, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and Bridgewater.
Transparency (Epoch AI, 2026) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026 - Epoch says it charges lab and industry clients at least industry-consultant rates so it is not subsidising their work, and commits to disclosing sponsorship and data-access agreements; its eight Coefficient grants sum to $25.1M by its own list.
Transparency (Epoch AI, 2026) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026
Governance 3/4
Nonprofit or public body with a COI policy.
evidence: tier 4 (press)
Anchor 3 on governance given the cited signals.
Personnel 3/4
Recusal policy and disclosure of lab ties.
evidence: tier 4 (press)
Anchor 3 on personnel given the cited signals.
Access depth (lab-granted) 2/4
Pre-release with safeguards off or extended time.
evidence: tier 3 (self)
Anchor 2 on access given the cited signals.
- Cannot share the commissioned set with other labs without OpenAI's permission.
Clarifying the creation and use of the FrontierMath benchmark (Epoch AI, 2025-01-23) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026-09-14
Scope control 3/4
Evaluator sets scope and can add questions.
evidence: tier 3 (self)
Anchor 3 on scope given the cited signals.
- Evaluates any model on FrontierMath at its discretion.
Clarifying the creation and use of the FrontierMath benchmark (Epoch AI, 2025-01-23) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026-09-14
Publication rights 2/4
Publishes; lab reviews with broad redaction.
evidence: tier 3 (self)
Anchor 2 on publication given the cited signals.
- Contributors were not told the funder; disclosure came after the fact.
AI benchmarking organization criticized for waiting to disclose funding from OpenAI (TechCrunch, 2025-01-19) tier 4 pressconfirmed Clarifying the creation and use of the FrontierMath benchmark (Epoch AI, 2025-01-23) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026-09-14 - After the disclosure failure, created a 50-problem holdout OpenAI cannot see.
Clarifying the creation and use of the FrontierMath benchmark (Epoch AI, 2025-01-23) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026-09-14
Method transparency 4/4
Open code, tasks, reproducible runs, factsheets.
evidence: tier 4 (press)
Anchor 4 on methods given the cited signals.
- Rigorous public data on compute, training runs and capability trends.
AI benchmarking organization criticized for waiting to disclose funding from OpenAI (TechCrunch, 2025-01-19) tier 4 pressconfirmed2026-09-14 - Publishes a transparency page listing donations above $70K and paying clients.
Transparency (Epoch AI, 2026) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026-09-14
Role incompatibility 3/4
Tools are open or free to the ecosystem.
evidence: tier 3 (self)
Anchor 3 on products given the cited signals.
- No commercial products.
AI benchmarking organization criticized for waiting to disclose funding from OpenAI (TechCrunch, 2025-01-19) tier 4 pressconfirmed2026-09-14 - Epoch states it invests part of its funds in semiconductor and AI stocks as part of a diversified portfolio.
Transparency (Epoch AI, 2026) tier 3 selfconfirmed2026 - Open: Which AI stocks Epoch holds and whether they include developers it evaluates.
Traced money and ties
hop 0: 4 rows; hop 1: 1 row (daf_grant $0.6M); hop 2: 3 rows (grant $24.5M, recommendation $0.2M). Confirmed rows: 4 of 8. Dollar sums: confirmed + unaudited USD rows only; imported figures are not re-derived and never summed. Second hop traced for 7 of 7 sources. Ties: none within two steps recorded. Bounded negatives on file: 0.
Ledger
Money in
- T07 from Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy): grant $24.51M, 2021-2025. cumulative confirmedtier 1 indexhttps://epoch.ai/about/transparency
- T34 from OpenAI: contract undisclosed, 2024. OpenAI commissioned FrontierMath problems and owns them; paid consultation client per transparency page confirmedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/latest/openai-and-frontiermath
- T35 from Google / Google DeepMind: contract undisclosed, 2025-2026. Google DeepMind listed as a paying consultation client confirmedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/about/transparency
- T36 from Jaan Tallinn: daf_grant $0.60M, 2025-01. via DAF per Epoch transparency page confirmedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/our-funding
- T74 from Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy): grant $8.50M; detail of T06 — not additive, 2025-04. largest single Epoch grant per transparency page unauditedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/about/transparency
- T77 from Survival and Flourishing Fund: recommendation $0.20M, 2026-05. per Epoch transparency page unauditedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/about/transparency
- T82 from xAI: contract undisclosed, 2025. model evaluations for xAI, paying client per transparency page unauditedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/about/transparency
- T83 from Anthropic: contract undisclosed, 2024. pilot engagement per transparency page unauditedtier 3 selfhttps://epoch.ai/about/transparency
Funding graph, focused
Neighbours at full strength, everything else faded. Hover any name to move the focus; click a name to open its page.