Democratizing AI for Humanity: A Common Goal

Abstract

The AI Commons was born in 2017 from the collective efforts of a group of individuals and organizations towards sharing AI resources in order to harness it for social and economic improvement. Foundational workshops, reflections, and gatherings resulted in the identification and formulation of an open knowledge and collaborative framework. This idea has led to the formation of an international nonprofit organization – the AI Commons. The organization has gathered experts in academia, industry, startups, international organizations, nonprofits and beyond to support the creation of a knowledge hub in problem solving with AI that can be accessible by anyone. The hub is based on the concept of a collaboration framework and access to AI resources. It is intended to help accelerate identifying problems that can benefit from AI capabilities on a global level. It also aims to be a catalyst for supporting diversity and inclusivity in AI applications and to inform governance, policy making, and investments around the deployment of beneficial AI solutions. The AI Commons held a workshop on Oct 28th, 2019, in Paris during the Global Forum on AI for Humanity (GFAIH). The workshop followed previous sessions held at the Global Governance of AI Forum in Dubai (World Government Summit; February 2019), in Montreal (March 2019), and at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva (ITU, XPRIZE and UN agencies; May 2019).