A few random opportunities in AI for Social Good#
Recently a few friends have reached out asking if I knew of any opportunities to work on AI-related things that also have some kind of pro-social tie-in. I think a lof people see AI as a technology with a lot of potential, but in an environment of companies that don’t seem to prioritize the benefit of human-kind over the never-ending hype machine and the promise of hyperscale growth.
So I asked around a few places to see if folks had recommendations for using skills in machine learning or artificial intelligence, but in a context that was explicitly for the benefit of humanity or otherwise pro-social. Here are a few that stood out (they are 100% not vetted, I’m just passing along information in case it’s useful so please tell me if there’s something wrong or problematic in here):
DataScience for Social Good (DSSG):
DSSG leverages data science to tackle social challenges and will likely intersect with the AI/ML space as well.
-
Uses AI but in the context of research paper analytics for scholarly knowledge generation.
-
Provides data science tools for infections and neglected disease research, largely for universities, hospitals, and laboratories in low-resourced countries.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI):
CZI has an open position for Director of Artificial Intelligence across CZI’s programs.
-
DAIR is a space for independent, community-rooted AI research, free from Big Tech’s pervasive influence.
-
Does a lot of work at the intersection of open science, data science, and open source technology, and is involved in some projects with ML/AI.
Policy and Ethics in AI:
There are many policy and advocacy efforts around AI. In particular, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was mentioned along with a community called “AI Snake Oil” and the US Digital Response.
A recent AI for Good Panel Discussion:
The panel, hosted by Deeplearning.AI, explored real-world problem-solving using AI.
Stanford Human-Centered AI group (HAI):
HAI at Stanford focuses on human-centric AI research, with research opportunities.
Open Science Initiatives in AI:
There are some community initiatives in AI, such as Cohere for AI, and the Responsible AI License (RAIL) initiative.
Data research, advocacy, and technology institutes:
A few more institutes were mentioned: the AI Now Institute, the Ada Lovelace Institute, and Connected by Data.
This is not even close to an exhaustive list, but it’s what came out of this relatively simple question. Maybe somebody will find these useful to follow up on! I was encouraged by how many people responded to my questions - it seems like the intersection of AI and social good is on many people’s minds.