Meta and IBM are joining more than 40 companies and organizations to create an industry organization dedicated to open source artificial intelligence AI work, aiming to share technology and reduce risks.The consortium, called the AI Alliance, will focus on responsible development of AI technology, including safety and security tools, according to a statement on Tuesday. The consortium will also seek to increase the number of open source AI models — as opposed to the proprietary systems favored by some companies — develop new hardware and collaborate with academic researchers.
Proponents of open source AI technology argue that this approach is a more efficient way to cultivate highly complex systems. Over the past few months, Meta has been releasing open source versions of its large-scale language models, which are the basis for AI chatbots.
"We believe that artificial intelligence is better developed openly, so more people can benefit from it, develop innovative products, and work on safety." Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said in the statement.
The Alliance will eventually establish a Board of Governors and a Technical Oversight Committee. Participants include Oracle, AMD, Intel and StabilityAI, as well as academic and research organizations such as the University of Notre Dame and the MassOpenCloud Alliance.
The story of ChatGPT creator OpenAI’s recent firing and then rehiring of its high-profile CEO has fueled a global debate about how transparent companies should be when developing powerful AI technology. OpenAI is not listed as a participant in this consortium.