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We\u2019re committing $30M to build Mozilla.ai<\/a>: A startup \u2014 and a community \u2014 building a trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI<\/a> ecosystem<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re only three months into 2023, and it\u2019s already clear what one of the biggest stories of the year is: AI. AI has seized the public\u2019s attention like Netscape did in 1994, and the iPhone did in 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New tools like Stable Diffusion and the just-released GPT-4 are reshaping not just how we think about the internet, but also communication and creativity and society at large. Meanwhile, relatively older AI tools like the recommendation engines that power YouTube, TikTok and other social apps are growing even more powerful \u2014 and continuing to influence billions of lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This new wave of AI has generated excitement, but also significant apprehension. We aren\u2019t just wondering What\u2019s possible? <\/em>and How can people benefit?<\/em> We\u2019re also wondering What could go wrong? <\/em>and How can we address it?<\/em> Two decades of social media, smartphones and their consequences have made us leery. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mozilla has been asking these questions about AI for a while now \u2014 sketching<\/a> out a vision for trustworthy AI, mobilizing<\/a> our community to document what\u2019s broken and investing<\/a> in startups that are trying to create more responsible AI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve learned that this coming wave of AI (and also the last one) has tremendous potential to enrich people\u2019s lives. But it will only do so if we design the technology very differently \u2014 if we put human agency and the interests of users at the core, and if we prioritize transparency and accountability. The AI inflection point that we\u2019re in right now offers a real opportunity to build technology with different values, new incentives and a better ownership model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The good news: We\u2019ve met literally thousands of founders, engineers, scientists, designers, artists and activists who are taking this approach to AI. Smart, dedicated people are building open-source AI technology, testing out new approaches to auditing and figuring out how to build \u2018trust\u2019 into AI in the real world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The less good news: We don\u2019t see this happening amongst the big tech and cloud companies with the most power and influence. Meanwhile, these incumbents continue to consolidate their control over the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short: Some people are starting to do things differently, but the most significant work (and investment) is happening the same old way. We want to change this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, today we are announcing<\/strong> <\/strong>Mozilla.ai<\/strong><\/a>: A startup \u2014 and a community \u2014 that will build a trustworthy and independent open-source AI ecosystem. Mozilla will make an initial $30M investment in the company.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The vision for Mozilla.ai is to make it easy to develop trustworthy AI products. We will build things and hire \/ collaborate with people that share our vision: AI that has agency, accountability, transparency and openness at its core. Mozilla.ai will be a space outside big tech and academia for like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers and builders to gather. We believe that this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide to create an independent, decentralized and trustworthy AI ecosystem \u2014 a real counterweight to the status quo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mozilla.ai\u2019s initial focus?<\/strong> Tools that make generative AI safer and more transparent<\/strong>. And, people-centric recommendation systems that don\u2019t misinform or undermine our well-being<\/strong>. We\u2019ll share more on these \u2014 and what we\u2019re building \u2014 in the coming months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This new company will be led by<\/strong> Managing Director<\/strong> <\/strong>Moez Draief<\/strong><\/a>. Moez has spent over a decade working on the practical applications of cutting-edge AI as an academic at Imperial College and LSE, and as a chief scientist in industry. Harvard\u2019s Karim Lakhani<\/a>, Credo\u2019s Navrina Singh<\/a> and myself will serve as the initial Board of Mozilla.ai. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Later this year, we will announce additional initiatives, partners and events where people can get involved. If you are interested in collaborating, reach out at hello@mozilla.ai.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We\u2019re committing $30M to build Mozilla.ai: A startup \u2014 and a community \u2014 building a trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI ecosystem. We\u2019re only three months into 2023, and it\u2019s already clear what one of the biggest stories of the year is: AI. AI has seized the public\u2019s attention like Netscape did in 1994, and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340,"featured_media":71778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[464197,463312,5],"tags":[4708],"coauthors":[311642],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n