Google just announced a new Digital Futures Project to “support researchers, organize convenings and foster debate on public policy solutions to encourage the responsible development of AI.” Google’s parent company, Alphabet, reported $21 billion in profits in the last quarter, and this fund is splitting $20 million across some think tanks:
Inaugural grantees of the Digital Futures Fund include the Aspen Institute, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for a New American Security, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for Security and Technology, Leadership Conference Education Fund, MIT Work of the Future, R Street Institute and SeedAI. The fund will support institutions from countries around the globe, and we look forward to sharing more on these organizations soon.
Google isn’t new to discussing these issues openly, noting its publishing of AI principles in 2018, but the questions about how much influence Big Tech should have on policymaking and if smaller startups are being left out entirely remain.
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