Project summary

The gap. AI safety has world-class research depth and growing policy presence, but almost no organised public mobilisation infrastructure. Compare with climate (Greenpeace, 350.org), nuclear weapons (ICAN, which delivered the 2017 TPNW and a Nobel Peace Prize), or biosecurity. For frontier AI risk, the equivalent does not exist. The field is also overwhelmingly concentrated in the US and UK: Southern European civil society, Italian-language publics, and Global South youth networks have virtually no representation in the AI governance conversation.

Via Lattea (Milky Way in Italian) is an Italian nonprofit founded in 2025 to fill this gap. We design and coordinate campaigns, coalitions, and education programs that bring underrepresented communities into AI governance debates. We are an active member of the Stop Killer Robots coalition and have an active partnership with Scholas Occurrentes, the Vatican-linked educational organisation present in 190 countries.

This project is the first 6-month operational phase that turns Via Lattea from a founder-led initiative into a working campaigning organisation, with a concrete deliverable: a tested LAWS (Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems) advocacy campaign in Italy and Southern Europe, plus a published frame research toolkit usable across the AI safety field.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Three concrete deliverables in 6 months:

1. LAWS advocacy campaign — Italy pilot

Working in coalition with Stop Killer Robots, run a public campaign in Italy targeted at the Italian government and EU institutions ahead of relevant CCW (Geneva) cycles. Components: legal/policy research, public communications materials, coalition coordination, and faith-based mobilisation through our Scholas/Vatican partnership. Italy and Southern Europe are underrepresented in this debate despite the direct relevance to Mediterranean security dynamics.

2. Frame & narrative research on AI safety for non-expert audiences

Empirical message testing: 4–6 focus groups + survey-based testing on a representative Italian sample of approximately 1,000 respondents. We test 6–8 candidate frames against control conditions, measuring shifts in concern, perceived agency, and policy support. Closest precedent: Climate Outreach (Oxford) for climate communication.

3. Open-source frame toolkit

For campaigners, journalists, educators and AI safety organisations across Europe. Public report + downloadable kit, distributed through Stop Killer Robots and via existing nonprofit networks. Designed to be replicable in other Southern European markets (Spain, Portugal, Greece) and adaptable for Scholas's youth networks in the Global South.

How will this funding be used?

Total budget: $90,000 over 6 months. Minimum $50,000 covers a leaner version focused on Italy only.

Funding goal ($90,000)

Executive Director (part-time, 50%) $20,400
Campaign Coordinator (part-time, 50%)$13,000
LAWS campaign research, legal analysis, materials $10,000
Frame research: focus groups, survey panel, analysis $20,000
Coalition and travel (Stop Killer Robots, UN/Geneva) $5,000
Communications, public outreach, toolkit production $15,000
Administration, tools, fiscal sponsorship overhead $6,600

Minimum funding ($50,000)

Executive Director (part-time, 30%) $12,500
Campaign Coordinator (part-time, 30%) $8,000
LAWS campaign research and materials $8,000
Frame research: smaller-scale qualitative only (focus groups, no survey) $10,000
Coalition costs $3,500
Communications and toolkit (beta version) $6,000
Administration $2,000

The $50K version still produces a public report, a beta toolkit, and a coordinated Italy-only LAWS campaign moment. The $90K version adds the quantitative survey research and significantly stronger outreach.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Salvatore Barbera (Founder & President of Via Lattea, Project Lead): 17 years at Greenpeace (volunteer + staff) across International, Mediterranean and Italy offices. Led the 2011 Italian Nuclear Referendum campaign that ended in 94% rejection of nuclear energy expansion. Founded and led Change.org Italia 2016–2019, scaling to 7M+ users. Founded Latte Creative in 2010, a strategic communications agency working exclusively with nonprofits, foundations and institutions for 16 years (clients: Greenpeace International, Amnesty International, WWF, Doctors Without Borders, ActionAid, Council of Europe). Master's in Nuclear Physics, University of Bologna. Doctoral Board, ISIA Roma Design (PhD in Design for Social Change). LinkedIn.

Via Lattea board: Davide Dormino (artist), Andrea Mei (board member).

Existing partnerships:

• Stop Killer Robots coalition, coordinated by Charlotte Akin: active member, immediate access to LAWS advocacy network and credibility in the international space.

• Scholas Occurrentes: working partnership for AI literacy in vocational schools, with potential global scale via Scholas's 190-country network.

Quantitative researcher for the survey component to be recruited specifically for this project from our network of researchers in Italy and the EU.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Failure mode 1 — Frames fail to move audiences in any consistent direction. Output remains valuable as a published null result, rare and useful in this field. Risk: medium.

Failure mode 2 — LAWS campaign fails to gain traction in Italy. Italian advocacy on autonomous weapons faces dense competition from other security debates (Ukraine, Mediterranean migration). Mitigation: Stop Killer Robots provides existing coalition infrastructure; the Vatican angle through Scholas provides a distinctive moral frame. Risk: medium.

Failure mode 3 — Toolkit not adopted by AI safety organisations. Some organisations may perceive public mobilisation as off-strategy or risky. Mitigation: we will engage 4–5 organisations as advisors from project start, so the output reflects their input rather than being imposed. Risk: medium.

Failure mode 4 — Organisational fragility. Via Lattea is early-stage and founder-led. Mitigation: Latte Creative provides infrastructure backbone (project management, finance, design, production). Risk: low.

What is unlikely to happen even if the project fails: wasted capital. Even partial deliverables (Italian LAWS campaign assets, qualitative frame research, beta toolkit) have standalone value to Stop Killer Robots and to the field.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

Via Lattea (the proposed grantee) has operated primarily on founder-contributed time and limited institutional resources to date. No external grants have been received yet.

Why Manifund. AISTOF's stated focus on speed and emerging opportunities matches our timeline. We can start within 30 days of grant approval and deliver the first milestone (LAWS campaign launch in Italy + frame research design) within 8 weeks. Other funders we've engaged operate on 3–9 month decision cycles. AISTOF's recent grants on related work (Safe AI Germany €80K, Building an Infrastructure to Create High-Impact Narratives $250K, AI Crisis Convening at India AI Impact Summit $100K, frontier AI governance inclusive of global majority $87K) suggest a strong fit with our scope.