IBM and Meta have teamed up with over 50 organizations around the world to launch the new AI Alliance. Some of the partners include AMD, Anyscale, CERN, Cerebras, Cleveland Clinic, Cornell University, Dartmouth, Dell Technologies, EPFL, ETH, Hugging Face, Imperial College London, Intel, INSAIT, Linux Foundation, MLCommons, Boston University and Harvard University, NASA, NSF, Oracle, Partnership on AI, Red Hat, Roadzen, ServiceNow, Sony Group, Stability AI, University of California, Berkeley, University of Illinois, University of Notre Dame, The University of Tokyo, and Yale University.
The aim of the AI Alliance is to encourage open innovation and scientific research in AI. By bringing together leading developers, scientists, academic institutions, companies, and other innovators, the alliance hopes to create an open community where resources and knowledge are shared. This collaborative approach is intended to promote safe and responsible AI development while addressing concerns about safety, trust, and economic competitiveness.
Sriram Raghavan, vice president of IBM Research, mentioned in an interview that the formation of the AI Alliance has been in the works since the summer. This initiative was not influenced by recent events at OpenAI or the final negotiations of the EU AI Act, but rather by a need for more open and collaborative AI development. Raghavan emphasized that the goal is to work together to define benchmarks and create safe AI models openly.
Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, highlighted that developing AI openly allows more people to benefit from it and fosters innovation and safety. The AI Alliance is looking forward to collaborating with partners to push the boundaries of AI and promote responsible development.
The AI Alliance will focus on six main areas:
1. Developing benchmarks and standards, tools, and resources for responsible AI use globally, including a catalog of vetted safety and security tools. They also aim to support these tools within the developer community.
2. Advancing open foundation models with diverse functionalities to tackle societal challenges like climate and education.
3. Strengthening the AI hardware accelerator ecosystem by promoting essential software technology.
4. Supporting global AI skills development and research, engaging with the academic community to help researchers and students.
5. Creating educational resources to inform public discourse and policymakers on AI benefits, risks, and regulations.
6. Launching initiatives to encourage the safe and beneficial open development of AI and hosting events to showcase how members are using open technology in AI.
The AI Alliance aims to foster a community where diverse partners can come together to share knowledge and tools, promoting the responsible development and use of AI technologies.