Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has joined an international alliance with over 50 founding members, led by IBM and Meta, to foster advancements, share information and tools, identify and mitigate risk, and prioritize safety, diversity, and economic benefits for all as artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances.

“Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is honored to become a founding member of the AI Alliance,” said Rensselaer President Martin A. Schmidt, ’81 Ph.D. “We believe the responsible application of artificial intelligence enables infinite possibilities in discovery and innovation. We look forward to collaborating with the alliance as we accelerate our work in artificial intelligence and quantum computing.”

The founding members of the AI Alliance include leading international organizations across industry, startup, academia, research, and government. Together, they support open innovation and open science in AI. Collaboration and information sharing is vital for innovation, inclusivity, and risk mitigation. The diversity of the participating organizations will ensure that AI evolves in ways that address the needs of our societies.

“AI presents unprecedented opportunities to address global challenges, but working together on an international scale is the only way to ensure its responsible development and application for the benefit of all global citizens,” said James Hendler, Ph.D., director of Rensselaer’s Future of Computing Institute. “I am excited for the opportunity to connect Rensselaer’s leading researchers with developers at esteemed organizations across the globe through the AI Alliance to ensure the technology advances with not only innovation, but also equity foremost in our minds.”

The AI Alliance will create vetted security tools to enable the responsible development and deployment of AI systems globally; help address universal challenges in areas such as climate and education by enhancing and adding to open foundation models with diverse modalities; foster a vibrant AI hardware accelerator ecosystem; support global AI skills building and exploratory research; support researchers and students to learn and contribute to essential AI research projects; develop educational content to inform the public and policymakers; launch initiatives that encourage open development of AI in safe and beneficial ways; and host events to showcase how Alliance members are using open technology in AI responsibly and for good.

In addition to bringing together leading developers, scientists, academics, students, and business leaders in the field of artificial intelligence, the AI Alliance will plan to partner with important existing initiatives from governments, non-profit and civil society organizations who are doing valuable and aligned work in the AI space.

"The progress we continue to witness in AI is a testament to open innovation and collaboration across communities of creators, scientists, academics and business leaders,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM Chairman and CEO, in the original announcement blog. “This is a pivotal moment in defining the future of AI. IBM is proud to partner with like-minded organizations through the AI Alliance to ensure this open ecosystem drives an innovative AI agenda underpinned by safety, accountability and scientific rigor."