Oxford University has shut down an academic institute which previously received funding from Elon Musk.

The Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) was shut down by the faculty of philosophy on April 16 after 19 years of operation.

The institute was founded in 2005 and was run by Swedish-born philosopher Nick Bostrom, who is known for his work theory that humanity may be living in a simulation.

READ MORE: Popular cake shop to leave Covered Market for 'traffic reasons'

The institute says the closure came after having "faced increasing administrative headwinds within the faculty of philosophy .”

In the institute’s final report published on April 12, Anders Sandberg, a former senior research fellow at the FHI, claimed the finals years were “affected by a gradual suffocation by faculty bureaucracy.”

The faculty of philosophy imposed a freeze on fundraising and hiring in 2020, and decided not to renew the contracts of staff in late 2023, according to the report.

“Eventually a pressure to conform began bearing down (we were administratively housed within the faculty of philosophy, even though the majority of our research team by this time were non-philosophers), and there was a death by bureaucracy,” said Bostrom, in a statement to The Guardian.

The institute's stated objective was to focus research where it can make the greatest positive difference for humanity in the long term.

It engaged in a mix of academic and outreach activities, seeking to promote informed discussion and public engagement in government, businesses, universities, and other organizations.

In 2015, the FHI at Oxford University received part of a £1m grant for policy and technical research into the development of machine intelligence.

READ MORE: 'Extremely sad': Shock for community as body found by members of public

This funding was aimed at making the FHI the world’s largest research institute working on technical and policy responses to the long-term prospect of smarter-than-human artificial intelligence.

The funding was part of an international grant programme dedicated to “keeping AI robust and beneficial”.

A university spokesperson said: “We regularly consider the best structures for conducting our academic research, as part of the University’s governance processes.

“After such consideration, the decision was made to close the Future of Humanity Institute.

“The University recognises the Institute’s important contribution to this emerging field, which researchers elsewhere across the University are likely to continue.”

Earlier this year, Oxford University confirmed it will continue to expand its research facilities with a £32m project in Headington.

A “state-of-the-art” facility will be built by Morgan Sindall Construction at the Old Road Campus to accommodate 400 staff and 330 researchers over three floors.

The new Institute for Global Health building will bring together the Centre for Tropical Medicine, Global Health and some of Oxford Population Health.