[5][6][7] The institute's stated goal is to "create a culture whose guiding principles are reason, rational self-interest, individualism and laissez-faire capitalism".

[9][10] Peikoff, her legal heir, was convinced to found the Ayn Rand Institute after businessman Ed Snider organized a meeting of possible financial supporters in New York in the fall of 1983.

[13][12] Its first executive director was Michael Berliner, who was previously the chairman of the Department of Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education at California State University, Northridge.

ARI also established a board of governors, which initially included Harry Binswanger, Robert Hessen, Edwin Locke, Arthur Mode, George Reisman, Jay Snider, and Mary Ann Sures, with Peter Schwartz as its chairman.

[21] Kelley subsequently founded his own competing institute now known as The Atlas Society, which remains critical of ARI's stance on strict loyalty to Rand's principles.

[13] In January 2000, Berliner retired as executive director, replaced by Yaron Brook,[9] then an assistant professor of finance at Santa Clara University.

[23] As of September 2021[update], ARI's board of directors consists of Brook; Tsfany; Harry Binswanger, philosopher and long-time associate of Rand; Tara Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin;[24] and John Allison, board member and former CEO of the Cato Institute and former CEO of BB&T.

[33] In 2020, ARI received a Paycheck Protection Program loan of between $350K and $1 million,[34][1][35] which Binswanger and Ghate described as "partial restitution for government-inflicted losses".

[36] The decision was criticized due to the incongruity of some organizations previously opposed to federal spending receiving the funds during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic impact on small businesses.

[39] ARI intellectuals argue that religion is incompatible with American ideals[40] and opposes the teaching of "intelligent design" in public schools.

[44] Steve Simpson, formerly director of legal studies at ARI, has argued that campaign finance is a free speech issue and that laws that limit it are a violation of the First Amendment.

[52][53] ARI is also highly critical of diversity and affirmative action programs as well as multiculturalism, arguing that they are based on racist premises that ignore the commonality of a shared humanity.

For example, C. Bradley Thompson wrote an article entitled "The Decline and Fall of American Conservatism",[58] which was later turned with Yaron Brook into a book called Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea.

[10][18] It also has an online bookstore, offers internships for current and recently graduated college students and provides speakers[9] for public lectures and media appearances.

In 2016, ARCI launched the Atlas Award for the Best Israeli Start-up, presented annually at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The institute states it is awarded to honour the most innovative entrepreneur who through wealth building and life enhancing enterprise ambition uses their technological developments to make the "world a better place" which reflects the essence of Ayn Rand's philosophy connecting these values "to one of the best parts of the Israeli economy".