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Initiatives

To follow its mission to allow anyone, anywhere, to benefit from AI for the common good; AI Commons fosters collaboration and initiates AI-based problem-solving projects. Every initiative and project AI Commons incubates is based on the principles of collaboration and sharing.

AI Commons is an open framework and works with other organizations, initiatives and individuals that align with its mission. AI Commons intends to leverage/use existing research, guidelines, and work already done by other groups that will match its mission.

Bringing AI Expertise Closer To Where Problems Exist

We believe problems & challenges are best solved with the wisdom of those experiencing them. However, AI resources and capabilities are concentrated and among a small and privileged minority. There is a disconnect between the needs of local communities and AI researchers who want to work on real world issues. We call the first group “problem owners” and the second group “problem-solvers”. We connect problem owners with problem solvers to make sure that the most impacted people are participating in the problem solving. AI Commons creates collaborative frameworks and templates for a variety of stakeholders to work and create together.

Local Problem Scoping

Program
LIFE360
Year
2020
Participate

AI Commons organized a Health and Well-being Hackathon in partnership with Data Science Nigeria in June 2020. The hackathon brought together 100 people for an online ideation workshop. Participants included problem owners such people who personally experienced health challenges in the region, as well as health workers, students, academic researchers, solution developers, and technical experts. 

Ideation workshop started with raising awareness about local health challenges with existing solutions. The community of problem owners and problem solvers then explored ways to improve existing solutions by evaluating them and identified new ones. Organizers and participants co-built an open collaboration model and methodology that can be used in other contexts and improved upon. 

LIFE360 is an accessible and decentralized framework of collaboration for AI-based-problem-solving for all.

Members:
Partners:

AI Community Hubs

Program
Community
Year
2019
Participate

Connecting problem owners to problem solvers is important to identify how real challenges on the ground that can be addressed using AI. Living and learning labs around the world acting as AI community hubs help matching problems solvers with problem owners, identify data sources and help build solutions that can be immediately used locally. Here are some of the active AI Community Hubs

Members:
Ramesh Raskar
MIT Media Labs
Xavier Herve
Concordia University
Myriam Côté
University of Montreal
Gilles Fayad
Director of Development
Kenny Chen
Partnership to Advance Responsible Technology (PART)
Sydney Swaine-Simon
Concordia University
Mathilde Forslund
Director
Jumanne Rajabu
Sahara Ventures
Uyi Stewart
Director
Tara Chklovski
Education and Training
Partners:
District 3, Sahara Ventures, PWC, Swissnex, Fondation Botnar, The Future Society,

Share Practical Knowledge Of Social and Societal Impact of AI

There is growing interest globally in using AI technologies to address common challenges. In order to achieve this, we need to know where to start and how to approach problem-solving with AI. We want to make sure that practical AI knowledge flows freely and is used where it’s most needed. Imagine a knowledge hub (like GitHub or Wikipedia) where communities of AI experts, practitioners, researchers, entrepreneurs, and regular people can find templates, roadmaps, and examples of AI solutions used for common good. We envision this knowledge hub to be co-created with our community and to be accessible to all.

AI-Driven Innovation for Cities and People

Program
Shared Resources, Scaling AI, AI Commons
Year
2021
Participate

The primary goal of this program is to provide blueprints to deploy beneficial and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) systems for cities and people. The effort is a contribution to help AI systems be used for the common and public good and their potential benefits made available to all, starting with municipalities which are leading the way in use and application of such systems.

Members:
Gilles Fayad
Director of Development
Nishan Chelvachandran
AI Security
Buse Cetin
Partners:
Fondation Botnar, IEEE Standards,

Making AI Resources Readily Available

To use AI for the common good, we need to have access to AI resources such as data. Quality and timely data are essential for effective AI solutions. However, data is treated as an exclusive commodity, siloed and monetized by organizations. AI Commons promotes a commons approach vis-à-vis AI resources including data to unlock the potential of AI solutions for the common good.

Global Data Pledge

Program
ITU
Year
2020
Participate

AI Commons launched the Global Data Pledge in partnership with ITU’s Global Initiative on AI and Data Commons. The Global Data Pledge functions on the basis of collective action to make data available around ‘trigger events’ such as Covid-19. The goal is to make data available as a public resource especially in the face of global events and challenges. The Global Data Pledge is open to all interested parties. It is collaborative and transparent and focuses on impact and scalability. Fill in this form to join us to make data available when it matters. 

Members:
Partners: