Several of Austin's most promising tech startups are partnering with The University of Texas and USAA to create a nonprofit organization to advocate for the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence.
The new group, called AI Global, is comprised of CognitiveScale, data.world, HyperGiant, IEEE, USAA, Saxena Foundation, Lucid AI and The University of Texas.
"The future of AI is critically dependent on stakeholders working together to create best practices, share findings and insights, and drive hands-on innovation," Tom Meredith, chairman of AI Global and co-founder of Meritage Capital, said in a news release. "Unlike traditional think tanks, this marketplace provides an open 'do-tank' environment that furthers our mission at AI Global to advance adoption of digital intelligence to benefit humanity."
As part of that, AI Global's new marketplace provides open collaboration that the group says "works like an AI App store for data, models, skills and AI services." The marketplace has 2,000 AI accelerators and building blocks. It contains software based on a beta version of an open interface developed by CognitiveScale called Cognitive Agent Modeling and Execution Language -- or CAMEL.
The new nonprofit emerges as many of the world's leading technologists continue to debate whether artificial intelligence is an existential threat to humanity. The New York Times, for example, recently reported that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg invited SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk to his home with top AI researchers to discuss and debate the dangers of AI. Meanwhile, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has also expressed serious concerns about where AI could be headed.
In tandem with the AI Global announcement, CognitiveScale on Tuesday committed to bring AI to at least a billion people by 2020 using responsible AI frameworks. Responsible AI, the startup says, involves transparency, accountability and fairness in how AI is used.
"Adoption of AI at scale will happen when people and businesses feel secure integrating human and machine intelligence to solve complex problems and power better experiences," Manoj Saxena, chairman of CognitiveScale and former general manager of IBM Watson, said in a news release. "The only way AI realizes its potential is through products and methods built with a 'People and Ethics First' Responsible AI design and full participation from every sector."
