Thomson joins Partnership on AI

Thomson Foundation is delighted to be one of five new organisations to join Partnership on AI.

Thomson is now one of 114 partner organisations representing academia, civil society, industry and media organisations from around the world who are part of PAI, a non-profit partnership creating solutions so that Artificial Intelligence advances positive outcomes for people and society.

With AI tools continuing to grow in popularity and used among businesses and consumers around the globe, it is even more urgent to create a shared understanding across industries and sectors on the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI.

“Advancing responsible practices in AI requires collective action from stakeholders across the globe and across the AI lifecycle,” says Rebecca Finlay, CEO at Partnership on AI. “Our new Partners bring important perspectives from law, media, and technology, as well as civil society of Brazil and Africa. Their insights will add to the rich discourse on responsible AI and strengthen the Partnership’s pursuit of advancing this powerful technology in a way that centres people and benefits society.”

AI to combat disinformation

Thomson’s journey with PAI started earlier in 2023 with a collaboration on the development of its free to access online course on Artificial Intelligence, AI in the newsroom: the ethical approach.

“We at Thomson are delighted to join PAI as a Partner. We work daily with media in some of the most challenging parts of the world as they supply trusted information to their local communities, underpinning vital democratic structures,” says Caro Kriel, Chief Executive at Thomson Foundation. “How to use AI to combat harmful disinformation, and the role it plays in making media operations more sustainable, are but some of the important issues we look forward to collaborating on.” 

AI impacting lives

Founded in the United States of America, PAI now has partners in 18 countries. In addition to Thomson the latest four partners to join are: Alliance for Africa's Intelligence, Allen & Overy LLP, Data Privacy Brasil and TechEquity Collaborative.

“By being part of the vibrant and multi-stakeholder PAI’s platform, Data Privacy Brasil aims to contribute for challenging and necessary reflections on AI’s complex global governance issues, such as: what does it mean [by] regulatory interoperability and how to achieve this without Global South countries, like Brazil, being legally colonised?” says Bruno Bioni, Founder and Director at Data Privacy Brasil. “Also, how does it effectively conciliate a rights-based to a risks-based approach, and why such a normative equation is even more important to the global majority part of the world? There is AI’s governance and regulatory effervescence around the world and PAI is a nexus of it.”

As AI becomes increasingly popular and accessible, including diverse stakeholders in conversations on AI’s real and potential impacts on society, potential socio-technical solutions, and AI governance will be key to creating a more just and equitable future. 

“As we’ve seen the hype for AI grow, a key element is missing in the conversation—AI is actually, deeply human. This is not only true in the way it’s built and powered, but also how it’s impacting real lives—from how people access housing to how we work today,” says Catherine Bracy, CEO and Co-Founder of TechEquity Collaborative. “We’re excited to join PAI as part of a diverse cohort of [organisations] working together to tackle this massive emergent tech challenge; we know that together we can ground the conversation in real human impact and also shape AI so it centres our collective humanity moving forward.”

AI course for newsrooms