AI Civil Society Database

In preparing for Blueprint 2024, we noted the rising role of AI in civil society discussions. We had two hypotheses about what was going on around the world where AI and civil society were concerned. 

• Hypothesis 1: There are 00s of new organizations focused on “trustworthy” or “safe” AI, but that behind them is a small group of people with strong connections between them. 
• Hypothesis 2: These organizations over-represent “hybrids” – organizations with many different forms and names, connected via a common group of founders/funders/employees – for some reason.

We (Lucy Bernholz, Brenna Blake) built this database to help answer our questions. You can use it for your own research by emailing us for a copy of the database. We’d appreciate credit for the work. Please cite the database as “AI Civil Society Database, compiled by the Digital Civil Society Lab, [date]’. Be sure to note the data you downloaded it, as it will be continuously updated. 

We built the database through desk research on organizational websites, funders websites, and from news articles. We tried to capture organizations that claim to be developing or researching tools to make AI “safe”, “responsible”, “trustworthy” or “ethical”. Most of the research was completed between July and November, 2023, (e.g. before the CEO firing/rehiring at OpenAI). The site is regularly updated. Please read the “Decision Rules” column for choices we made about non-English language sites, China and Russia, Effective Altruism, and other issues.

Help us make the database better. If you notice an organization missing, incorrect or incomplete information, please let us know by emailing us at digcivsoc@stanford.edu. Please let us know the issue and how/when we can best reach you if we have questions. 

We’d welcome your feedback. Please be in touch. 

For a copy of the spreadsheet, email us at digcivsoc@stanford.edu.

For additional resources on global data governance organizations, click here. 

Here’s a link to a similar resource from All Tech is Human.