Meta and IBM Launch AI Alliance
Meta and IBM announced an AI Alliance, a coalition of groups pushing for open-sourced artificial intelligence. The international association of corporations, universities, and organizations is committed to open science and technologies. So far, members include AMD, Cornell University, Harvard University, Yale University, NASA, Hugging Face, and Intel.
The group aims to enhance responsible innovation, ensuring trust, safety, and scientific rigor. The alliance will push for the development of benchmarks and evaluation standards, support AI skill-building globally, and highlight member’s use of responsible AI. Plans also include partnering with government and non-profit initiatives. It plans a governing board and technical oversight committee to help achieve their goals.
IBM SVP Darío Gil said, “The future of AI is approaching a fork in the road. One path is dangerously close to creating consolidated control of AI, driven by a small number of companies that have a closed, proprietary vision for the AI industry. Down the other path lies a broad, open road: a highway that belongs to the many, not the few, and is protected by the guardrails that we create together.”
Closed source models include ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, and models made by Microsoft and Google. Although users can interact with the technology through an internet interface, no one besides the companies can access the software (or training data).
Open-source models, including Meta’s Llama and IBM’s geospatial model, are designed for accessibility. Those who want open-sourced AI claim that the method democratizes the technology and enables transparency, often lacking in the industry, while those against it claim it makes the tech more prone to misuse.
Closed-source models make it difficult for researchers and regulators to understand the legitimate capabilities of a given model and the environmental cost of training and using the model. A survey by the Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute found that an overwhelming portion of the populace does not trust tech companies to self-regulate AI.
The impression that everyone should be a part of the regulatory conversation is shared publicly by IBM executives. The thinking is that rules can’t just be written by a few companies that are also the most powerful in the world.
