How will partnerships drive the future of AI?

How will partnerships drive the future of AI?

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You’ve heard it, we’ve heard it, and even people who aren’t involved in the AI sector have heard it: tech giant Apple and ChatGPT creator OpenAI recently announced a partnership that will embed emerging generative AI technologies into new Apple operating systems. 

But beyond this specific partnership, the news set our minds tingling: how will partnerships drive the future of AI? And will some partnerships have a more positive impact than others? 

Partnerships in the AI sector can: 

  • Blend expertise and resources together to increase the potential of AI development. That could be by enhancing computer power, collaborating to establish stronger codes of ethics, pooling data assets, or accelerating AI innovation through knowledge-sharing – and more, of course.
  • Drive collaboration between multiple stakeholders. With intellectual property closely guarded, the transparency and a foundation of trust that’s created through an official partnership can increase collaboration. Not just between different tech companies, but also between stakeholders in different spaces – including academia, civil society, and government.
  • Scale AI opportunities quickly. Through Apple, OpenAI can reach more customers. And this is just one example of the power of partnerships to scale AI solutions – integrating them into existing, widely used products and services in order to expand AI into new industries and new demographics.
  • Increase trust in AI, and drive AI adoption. When trusted organisations or brands partner with AI providers, they transfer their consumers’ trust in them over to the AI product. Trust is a key obstacle to AI deployment, and partnerships could play a really important role in overcoming this; tapping into established trust relationships. 

A balance between partnerships for profit, and partnerships for positive AI development 

Profit and positive impact don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Far from it, in fact – in today’s consumer climate, positive impact can drive sales and increase a company’s potential to build a loyal customer base over a long period of time.

But as a developing field of technology, some partnerships will be focused on their profit potential, while others will be forged specifically to enable innovation and help develop AI technology that can have a positive impact on people and the planet. 

And we need a balance of those partnerships. Strategic partnerships designed to capture profits have to happen alongside impact partnerships designed to shape the future of technology. 

Which partnerships are driving the future of AI?

IBM’s partnership with MIT in 2017, to establish the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, is one of those collaborations that’s focused on advancing fundamental AI research and developing technological capabilities that can have a real societal benefit. 

And Google’s links with the non-profit Partnership on AI, along with around 100 other organisations across sectors, is focused on studying and expanding AI ethics and developing best practices.

The Frontier Model Forum by Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI is working to increase the safety of frontier AI model development; and MLCommons is specifically focused on accelerating machine learning innovation to have a positive impact.

As we shift into the new AI era, more and more partnerships are being established between tech companies, AI developers, and research bodies across industries; developing solutions for key social issues that lean into the potential of machine learning models. 

The impact of each of these partnerships will become clearer as AI is deployed across more aspects of economic and social life – and as the world works towards AI policies that place boundaries around the scope and risk of AI use. 

We want to hear from you

Which AI partnerships do you think will have the biggest impact – and why? Open this newsletter on LinkedIn and tell us in the comment section. We might even get in touch to feature your perspective in a future newsletter. 


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