Together with more than 50 other organizations, Meta and IBM formed the new group to promote an open community that speeds up the development of responsible AI systems.
An AI collaboration has been forged by IBM and Meta, a social media tech powerhouse.
Together with over fifty founding members from various corporate and academic organizations, including as Anyscale, AMD, Cerebra’s, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Dell, Stability AI, and Oracle, the two tech companies announced the formation of the new AI Alliance on Tuesday.
Notably absent from the alliance’s membership roster are AWS, Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI.
However, according to IBM, the AI Alliance seeks to establish an open community that will hasten ethical innovation in AI technology while upholding scientific rigor, trust, safety, security, and economic competitiveness.
A coalition for transparency
Launching the AI Alliance came after a year of increased innovation in AI, with the widespread consumerization of generative AI and rising interest in open source tools like Meta’s Llama 2.
In an interview, IBM’s Director of AI Open Innovation Anthony Annunziata stated, “The history of AI is full of the importance of open innovation, open science, research, and open source technologies.” “We think that openness is necessary for AI to be safe, trustworthy, and beneficial to society. We brought in people to help with resource building, focusing, and open building.”
According to Annunziata, the AI Alliance’s primary focus is on safety and trust in order to guarantee that its openness aim is achieved. The working group for the safety and trust alliance has already begun meeting.
“We’re going to meet regularly, [and] we’re going to identify priorities and existing tools,” Annunziata stated.
He also said there would soon be more working groups established with the goal of developing basic tools and technologies. They will consist of a steering committee to oversee the entire programme and a working group on advocacy and public policy.
According to Futurum Group analyst Mark Beccue, forming a working group is a wonderful method to make sure the AI Alliance is successful.
“Benefits and drawbacks of open source
There are benefits and drawbacks to supporting open source, Beccue added.
Competition arises when open source is a practical choice,” he stated. However, there are drawbacks to open source in the computer industry.
The fact that open source isn’t always safe is one of its weaknesses. Businesses that require technology that is highly guarded may decide to take a different approach. Furthermore, whereas innovations developed in the open source community lack the backing of corporate software, they also lack its pricing.
“It makes the assumption that a lot of enterprises are going to have experts that can look through all of the open source stuff and be able to use it correctly,” Beccue stated.
He went on to say that rather than using only open source or closed source technologies, many businesses are probably going to utilize a mix of the two.
AI that is both meta and generative
According to Chirag Shah, a professor at the University of Washington Information School, the AI Alliance may promote supervision of open-source AI tools while also giving Meta the opportunity to highlight how it differs from major generative AI firms like Microsoft, Google, and AWS.
“The cynical way to look at this is that Meta missed this opportunity to be at the forefront of AI,” Shah stated. “So, they’re kind of getting others to sign up with them collectively.”
Microsoft, AWS, and Google are linked to several coalitions or organizations that emphasize the responsible application of artificial intelligence. Microsoft, for instance, collaborates with OpenAI, a research vendor whose initial goal was the responsible use of open source AI tools.
Google participates in the Partnership on AI, which seeks to answer issues related to artificial intelligence’s future. IBM, Microsoft, and Meta are also included in that group.
“I don’t see what benefit [Google, Microsoft or AWS] will derive by signing up for AI Alliance,” Shah stated. “It’s yet another thing, and it’s heavily run by Meta.”
Furthermore, he stated that Meta and IBM may rely on the AI Alliance to be relevant in the market, as the AI space is expected to be dominated by one or two companies that businesses currently employ.
Barnes stated, “It’s all about choice and transparency.” “GenAI is a game-changing technology that will significantly impact how businesses operate in the future. Our involvement demonstrates that we’re not going to handle these crucial generative AI features on our own.”
Requests for response from Microsoft and Google were not immediately answered.
Esther Ajao covers artificial intelligence systems and software as an editorial news writer for TechTarget.
