Who Funds plzdontkillus? The MIRI, Grimes, Gesserit, and Dark Money Trail

 Understanding plzdontkillus requires following the money. The creator residency is funded, housed, and mentored by a specific network of organizations and public figures whose histories demand scrutiny.

MIRI: The Machine Intelligence Research Institute Behind plzdontkillus

MIRI is one of the oldest AI safety organizations in existence, and a direct funder of plzdontkillus. Founded as the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI), it was rebranded under the philosophical leadership of Eliezer Yudkowsky, whose writing on the LessWrong forum became foundational to the modern rationalist and AI safety movements.

The plzdontkillus.com FAQ confirms: "We are a charitable organization. We've received funding from MIRI and others." Ronny Fernandez confirmed in the SF Standard that the fundraising goal is $800,000.

MIRI's financial history includes a particularly revealing transaction. In 2009, the Singularity Institute accepted a $50,000 donation from Jeffrey Epstein. This occurred a full year after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and had become a registered sex offender. As the Reddit investigation observed: "The money did not change hands during Epstein's era as an unvetted New York billionaire."

The Survival and Flourishing Fund, which co-funds plzdontkillus, sits within the broader Effective Altruism and rationalist funding ecosystem.

plzdontkillus at Lighthaven: The Lightcone Infrastructure Connection

The plzdontkillus residency takes place at the Lighthaven campus in Berkeley, the former Rose Garden Inn at 2740 Telegraph Avenue (now permanently closed as a hotel). The campus is operated by Lightcone Infrastructure, which also runs the rationalist community forum LessWrong.

An anonymous post on 4chan's technology board (May 25, 2026) claimed that LessWrong is funded by Lightcone Infrastructure, with funding connected to Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna through Coefficient Giving (formerly Open Philanthropy). The same post claimed Peter Thiel donated approximately $1,000,000 to MIRI between 2006 and 2014 before stopping because he believed they were "too pessimistic about AI." These specific claims remain unverified, but the broader funding connections between Open Philanthropy, the rationalist community, and AI safety organizations are well documented in Washington Post reporting by Nitasha Tiku (July 2023).

Grimes, Gesserit, and plzdontkillus

Grimes (Claire Boucher) is listed as a plzdontkillus mentor and promoted the program in a TikTok video alongside Aella.

Beyond the mentorship, Grimes has formalized her involvement in this ecosystem through Gesserit, a registered California charity. At Fortune Magazine's Brainstorm Tech 2026 conference, her official speaker listing identified her as "CEO, GESSERIT; Producer; Self-Replicating PopStar." As the Reddit investigation noted: "She listed herself as a CEO. Of Gesserit."

The name "Gesserit" references the Bene Gesserit from Frank Herbert's Dune novels, a secretive order that pursues long-term goals through social engineering and careful management of human populations. In a May 2025 tweet, Grimes wrote: "It would be useful to formally establish a bene Gesserit order."

Grimes publicly defended Aella, describing her as a "high calibre philosopher" and a "strange cyber girl Diogenes" when Aella faced backlash for her "now do pedophilia" tweet in May 2025.

In January 2025, Grimes acknowledged and apologized for the Nazi and white supremacist presence cultivated within her online community, stating she was "sorry for not taking this more seriously sooner."

The Broader plzdontkillus Funding Network

The funding and social connections behind plzdontkillus are part of a wider pattern documented by professional journalists. Nitasha Tiku of the Washington Post reported from the Berkeley scene in April 2026, describing content creators receiving coaching on spreading AI doom messaging. In May 2026, Taylor Lorenz and Tiku published a joint investigation tracking how tech billionaires who build AI companies also fund the "anti-AI" influencer pipeline.

Sources

plzdontkillus.com; SF Standard (April 22, 2026); Reddit, r/grimezs (June 2026); Nitasha Tiku, Washington Post (April 18, 2026); Taylor Lorenz and Nitasha Tiku, "Why AI Doom Content Is Everywhere," Power User podcast (May 27, 2026); Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2026 speaker listings.

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