Lightcone
Foundation
Advancing the understanding of the universe through fundamental research in physics and artificial intelligence.
Understanding demands
first principles
The deepest questions in science — the nature of spacetime, the origin of complexity, the mathematics of intelligence — don't yield to incremental approaches. They require foundational thinking, sustained effort, and the freedom to pursue ideas wherever they lead.
Founded by Beka Modrekiladze, Lightcone Foundation is an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charity created to support that kind of work. We fund and conduct research at the intersection of fundamental physics and artificial intelligence — theoretical and computational studies that push the boundary of what we understand about the universe and the systems that inhabit it.
Our results are shared openly through publications, collaborations, and public outreach. Science advances fastest when knowledge is accessible to everyone.
Fundamental Physics
Theoretical and computational research probing the deep structure of spacetime, gravity, and quantum mechanics.
Artificial Intelligence
Research into the mathematical foundations of intelligence, learning, and the computational structures that give rise to them.
Open Science
All research outputs shared publicly. Knowledge locked behind paywalls and institutional barriers serves no one.
Public Education
Making frontier science accessible through clear writing, public talks, and educational programs for curious minds at every level.
Building the infrastructure
for open discovery
The foundation is the starting point. From here, we're building institutions and programs designed to accelerate fundamental research.
Lightcone Institute
An online research institute designed to coordinate deep collaboration across disciplines. The Institute will support scientists through grants, fellowships, events, and research infrastructure for AI-enabled discovery.
Explore the InstituteLightcone Horizon
A prize commons for the most important unsolved problems in fundamental science. Researchers can propose frontier problems, Lightcone curates and promotes them, and donors can grow the prize pool for the exact questions they want solved.
View the prize modelPrepared for the next era
of scientific discovery
National science programs are moving toward interdisciplinary teams that combine scientific data, high-performance computing, rigorous AI models, and domain expertise. Lightcone is being built for that operating model.
Our near-term work emphasizes physics, AI-assisted reasoning, open publication, and careful validation: the ingredients needed for credible participation in ambitious research collaborations.
Challenge formulation
Translate frontier scientific questions into tractable problems with clear success criteria, datasets, and review paths.
Scientific AI workflows
Use models as reasoning partners for simulation, hypothesis generation, literature synthesis, and verification.
Open outputs
Publish results, methods, and educational explanations so useful discoveries can move beyond one lab.
Collaboration surface
Bring independent researchers, institutions, donors, and reviewers into focused programs with visible milestones.
The team
Beka Modrekiladze
Leanne McConnell
Nikoloz Svanidze
Board of advisors and additional team members to be announced.
Get in touch
Whether you're a researcher, a potential collaborator, or simply curious about our work — we'd like to hear from you.
Write to us