OpenAI Launches Grant Program for Democratic AI Governance: Empowering Public Influence in AI Decision-making

OpenAI, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and ensuring the safe and beneficial use of artificial intelligence (AI), has announced a new grant program to fund experiments in setting up a democratic process for deciding what rules AI systems should follow, within the bounds defined by the law. The program aims to award ten $100,000 grants to individuals, teams and organizations who can develop and test innovative methods for involving a diverse and representative group of people in shaping the behavior of AI systems.

According to OpenAI's blog post, the motivation behind the grant program is to foster innovation in processes that can enable more democratic oversight of AI development and deployment. The organization believes that decisions about how AI behaves should be shaped by diverse perspectives reflecting the public interest, rather than by a few powerful actors or institutions. OpenAI also hopes that the grant program will help to explore some of the challenging questions that arise when trying to align AI systems with human values and norms, such as how to balance different opinions across groups, how to handle disputed views, and how to ensure transparency and accountability in AI decision-making.

The grant program is open to applicants from any country, background, or discipline, as long as they can demonstrate their ability to conduct a high-quality experiment involving at least 500 participants. The applicants are expected to design a process that can answer a specific question about what rules an AI system should follow in a given domain or scenario, such as social media moderation, health care, education, or entertainment. The process should involve some form of deliberation among the participants, as well as a transparent and fair mechanism for reaching a collective decision. The applicants should also consider the ethical, legal, and social implications of their proposed process and its outcomes.

Why is this important?

AI is rapidly becoming a part of our everyday lives. AI systems are being used to make decisions about everything from who gets a loan to what news we see. As AI becomes more powerful, it is essential that we ensure that it is used for good.

Democratic AI governance is one way to ensure that AI is used for good. Democratic AI governance involves involving the public in the development of AI rules. This can help to ensure that AI systems are fair, accountable, and beneficial to society.

The OpenAI program is a significant step forward in the development of democratic AI governance. The program will help to fund research into new methods for involving the public in AI governance. This research will help us to develop better ways to ensure that AI is used for good.

The deadline for submitting applications is June 24, 2023 at 9 p.m. PDT. The successful applicants will be notified by July 15, 2023 and will have until October 20, 2023 to complete their experiments and publish a public report on their findings. The applicants will also be required to open-source the code behind their experiments and share their data and methods with OpenAI for further analysis and evaluation.

OpenAI says that this grant program is part of its broader vision to establish democratic processes for overseeing the development and deployment of artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is defined as AI that can perform any intellectual task that humans can. The organization acknowledges that the current experiments are not intended to be binding for decisions, but rather to serve as proof-of-concepts for more global and ambitious processes in the future. OpenAI also invites feedback and suggestions from the public on how to improve its grant program and its approach to democratic AI governance.

OpenAI's grant program for democratic AI governance marks a significant step towards fostering public influence and accountability in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence systems. By providing funding and support for experiments that involve diverse perspectives and collective decision-making, OpenAI aims to explore innovative methods for shaping AI behavior in line with the public interest. As OpenAI continues to work towards establishing democratic processes for overseeing AI development, this grant program serves as a crucial foundation for future advancements in AI governance. With an open invitation for feedback and suggestions, OpenAI actively seeks to improve its approach and create a more inclusive and transparent AI ecosystem. Through this initiative, OpenAI is empowering individuals, teams, and organizations to shape the future of AI, ensuring that it aligns with human values and benefits society as a whole.