Ai2: The Pioneering Open AI Research House Paul Allen Built
When it comes to artificial intelligence, giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, and Amazon often dominate the spotlight, leaving little room for other key players. Yet, one company has been quietly researching AI for over a decade, is based outside Silicon Valley, and is helping lead the charge for the technology’s openness. Called Ai2, this nonprofit 501(c)(3) firm, founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, aims to create AI for the common good.
Previously known as the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the Seattle, Washington-based company has long prioritized research and engineering. With a team of nearly 300 researchers, engineers, and staff members, it estimates it has published over 1,000 papers about AI to date. “We probably have won the most best paper awards than any other institutes of this size,” Ali Farhadi, Ai2’s Chief Executive, tells me.
The Mission of Ai2
My introduction to Ai2 occurred earlier this year when I wrote about its OLMo large language model for VentureBeat. With my AI exposure saturated with news from Big AI—the players, as mentioned earlier—I was curious about what a research lab in the Pacific Northwest was doing to stand out amongst the noise.
Leading the Way in AI Research
In 2023, Ai2 would undergo a leadership change, with inaugural chief Oren Etzioni stepping down. Farhadi would then be tapped to succeed him, saying it was a no-brainer decision: “Obviously, it’s such a unique thing I couldn’t say no to, so I dropped everything I was working on and came back to the institute, and it’s been fun since I rejoined.”
Focusing on Impact and Innovation
As CEO, Farhadi has guided Ai2 towards focusing more on areas where its work will have a significant impact. Today, Ai2 has three main focuses. The first is on the open AI ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of openness in AI for the betterment of humanity. The company has released open-source LLMs like OLMo and Molmo.
The second focus is on an unreleased project called Nora, a research assistant agent for scientists. Lastly, Ai2 is looking into how AI can improve conservation efforts, an area of great interest to Paul Allen.
The proliferation of AI models has led to confusion among users about which models to use. Farhadi believes that the industry is facing an evaluation crisis and that benchmarks provided by AI vendors may not be the best way to assess model performance.
Standing Out in the AI Landscape
But how is Ai2 different from other AI companies? Farhadi explains, “We are really after doing the right thing, and we are really scientifically grounded. We are anti-hype, anti-buzzword. We don’t need to say B.S. to just get more attention.”
Farhadi argues that open development is crucial for the continued innovation in AI. He emphasizes the importance of understanding and promoting truly open models in the AI community.
Overall, Ai2 continues to push the boundaries of AI research and development, staying true to its mission of creating AI for the common good and embracing openness in the field.
