In a groundbreaking move, IBM and Meta have joined forces to launch the AI Alliance, with the aim of supporting open innovation and open science in AI. This collaborative effort involves over 50 founding members from various sectors, including industry, academia, research, startups, and government. The AI Alliance seeks to accelerate responsible innovation in AI while ensuring scientific rigor, trust, safety, security, diversity, and economic competitiveness. By bringing together leading developers, scientists, academic institutions, companies, and other innovators, the AI Alliance aims to create a vibrant community that fosters the development of AI solutions to meet the needs of researchers, developers, and adopters worldwide.
Sriram Raghavan, Vice President of IBM Research, stated that the timing of the AI Alliance’s launch, coinciding with the recent drama at OpenAI and the final negotiations of the EU AI Act, was purely coincidental. He emphasized that the discussions leading to the creation of the AI Alliance began over the summer, driven by a recognition of the need for a more nuanced and comprehensive discussion around AI. Raghavan acknowledged the recent trend towards closed, proprietary AI development and the concerns about AI risks stifling innovation. He affirmed that the AI Alliance’s focus on open innovation was driven by the belief that a more inclusive and collaborative approach is necessary to address these challenges effectively.
The AI Alliance seeks to redefine the AI narrative beyond the sole focus on risks and regulation. Raghavan emphasized the importance of developing safe and responsible AI, asserting that the approach to address risks should not be to restrict access and create proprietary AI models but rather to foster open collaboration and define benchmarks for safe AI behavior. The AI Alliance aims to cultivate an ecosystem that encourages responsible AI development and enables developers, researchers, and companies to advance the state-of-the-art in AI collectively.
Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta, expressed the belief that AI development is better when conducted openly. Open development allows more people to access the benefits of AI, encourages the creation of innovative products, and promotes collaboration on safety measures. The AI Alliance brings together researchers, developers, and companies to share tools and knowledge, whether models are openly shared or not. The collaborative nature of the AI Alliance ensures progress in AI innovation and responsibility.
The AI Alliance adopts a project-based and flexible approach, focusing on six key areas:
1. **Development and deployment of benchmarks and evaluation standards:** The AI Alliance aims to establish benchmarks and evaluation standards that enable the responsible use and development of AI systems globally. This includes creating a catalog of vetted safety, security, and trust tools to support developers in model and application development.
2. **Advancement of open foundation models:** The AI Alliance is committed to diversifying the ecosystem of open foundation models, with a focus on multilingual, multi-modal, and science models that can address society-wide challenges, such as climate change and education.
3. **Boosting the AI hardware accelerator ecosystem:** The AI Alliance aims to enhance the contributions and adoption of essential enabling software technology, fostering a vibrant AI hardware accelerator ecosystem.
4. **Global AI skills building and exploratory research:** The AI Alliance seeks to engage the academic community to support researchers and students in learning and contributing to essential AI model and tool research projects. They also aim to facilitate global AI skills development.
5. **Public discourse and policymaker education:** The AI Alliance is committed to developing educational content and resources to inform the public discourse and policymakers about the benefits, risks, solutions, and precise regulation of AI.
6. **Initiatives for open development of AI:** The AI Alliance plans to launch initiatives that promote the open development of AI in safe and beneficial ways. They will also host events to showcase how Alliance members are using open technology in AI responsibly and for the greater good.
The launch of the AI Alliance represents a pivotal moment in the AI industry. By bringing together diverse stakeholders, this collaborative effort aims to foster responsible innovation in AI while promoting openness, trust, and scientific rigor. The AI Alliance’s focus on open development and shared knowledge will undoubtedly contribute to the advancement of AI technology and the creation of solutions that address societal challenges. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, the AI Alliance will play a crucial role in shaping the future of AI, ensuring its responsible and ethical use for the benefit of all.
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