We’re investing $30 million to create Mozilla.ai: Building a reliable, autonomous, and open-source AI ecosystem is a startup and a community.
Only three months into 2023, and it is already abundantly obvious that AI will be one of the year’s major news stories. Similar to how Netscape in 1994 and the iPhone in 2007 captured the public’s interest, AI has done the same.
Stable Diffusion and the recently released GPT-4 are two examples of new tools that are changing not only how we think about the internet but also communication, innovation, and society as a whole. While this is happening, comparatively more established AI tools, such as the recommendation engines that power YouTube, TikTok, and other social apps, are becoming even more potent and are still having a huge impact on billions of people’s lives.
What is Mozilla.ai?
The technologies we use on a daily basis are about to change thanks to a new generation of AI. Every day, every moment, trust must be at the centre of how we create and use AI. It is a requirement, not a “add-on.”
Mozilla has long fought for an AI-friendly society, investing in startups, supporting legislation, and encouraging people to pay attention to human agency and AI responsibility.
Now we’re moving on to the next phase: founding a business and assembling a group to develop a reliable open source AI ecosystem.
The goal of Mozilla.ai is to make it simple to create reliable AI applications and goods. To begin with, we will concentrate on creating tools that will enable recommendation systems and generative AI technologies to be built with safety and openness at their core.
We’re investing $30 million to create Mozilla.ai: Building a reliable, autonomous, and open-source AI ecosystem is a startup and a community.
Only three months into 2023, and it is already abundantly obvious that AI will be one of the year’s major news stories. Similar to how Netscape in 1994 and the iPhone in 2007 captured the public’s interest, AI has done the same.
Stable Diffusion and the recently released GPT-4 are two examples of new tools that are changing not only how we think about the internet but also communication, innovation, and society as a whole. While this is happening, comparatively more established AI tools, such as the recommendation engines that power YouTube, TikTok, and other social apps, are becoming even more potent and are still having a huge impact on billions of people’s lives.
There is a lot of excitement surrounding this new generation of AI, but there is also a lot of concern. Not only are we interested in what is feasible. Moreover, how can individuals profit? What could go wrong, we ponder as well? and How do we deal with it? We are wary after two decades of social media, cellphones, and their effects.
Mozilla has been pondering these issues regarding AI for some time now. We’ve outlined a vision for reliable AI, rallied our community to report issues, and invested in companies that are working to develop more responsible AI.
We now know that the last and upcoming waves of AI both hold great promise for improving people’s livelihoods. But only if we drastically alter how we create technology, putting user agency and interests first while emphasising accountability and transparency. We have a real chance to create technology with new values, incentives, and ownership models at this critical juncture in AI development.
The good news is that this strategy to AI is being taken by literally thousands of founders, engineers, scientists, designers, artists, and activists. Intelligent, committed individuals are developing open-source AI technology, experimenting with novel monitoring techniques, and learning how to incorporate “trust” into AI in the real world.
The less good news is that the largest and most influential cloud and technology firms don’t seem to be experiencing this. These industry leaders are still strengthening their position of power in the meantime.
In other words, while some individuals are beginning to act differently, the majority of the work (and investment) is still being done in the same manner. We want this to alter.
In light of this, we are launching Mozilla.ai today: A startup and community that aims to create a reliable and impartial open-source AI ecosystem. Mozilla will spend $30 million in the business initially.
The goal of Mozilla.ai is to make it simple to create reliable AI goods. We will create things and work with people who share our vision for AI—an AI that is driven by agency, responsibility, transparency, and openness. Mozilla.ai will serve as a meeting place for like-minded founders, coders, scientists, product managers, and builders away from big tech and the academy. We are confident that this collection of individuals can change the course of events and forge a trustworthy, independent, decentralised AI ecosystem that will act as a genuine counterweight to the current situation.
What was Mozilla.ai’s original goal? instruments that increase the transparency and safety of creative AI. Additionally, recommendations based on individuals that do not mislead or harm our wellbeing. In the upcoming months, we’ll talk more about these — and what we’re creating.
Moez Draief, the company’s managing director, will serve as its CEO. Moez has spent more than ten years researching the real-world uses of cutting-edge AI both as a professor at Imperial College and LSE and as a top scientist in business. The original Board of Mozilla.ai will be composed of myself, Navrina Singh from Credo, and Harvard’s Karim Lakhani.
We will reveal more programs, collaborators, and activities where people can participate later this year. Contact us at hello@mozilla.ai if you’re interested in working together.
