AI for Good Foundation
Economic Resilience through Technology
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Workforce, Diversity + AI
In 2019 the AI for Good Foundation conducted a broad assessment of the public perception of Artificial Intelligence as the “Global Perceptions of AI” survey. The study found that many people are concerned and fearful of AI’s impact and believe their jobs to be at risk.
Our scientific research indicates that there is no empirical evidence of negative impacts on labour markets due to the introduction of AI technologies. In fact, there is evidence for a positive and statistically significant impact on employment and firm growth. We see potential for AI to bring transparency to labour markets, hiring practices, and encourage companies to embrace diverse and inclusive workforces. Key program components are:
Research at the interface of labour economics and AI
Open Data, Company Diversity Metrics, and Scorecards
Policy work leveraging AI to boost economic growth
Get involved: Our team spans labour and behavioural economists, AI experts, and policy leaders. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with subject matter experts to support this program and build it out further, Machine Learning experts to solve hard measurement problems, and ethicists who would like to further explore how Machine Learning methods can impact real world behaviour.
Select Partners: UC Berkeley, Cognism, Fordham University, Genos International, Columbia University, University of Maryland, Kellogg School of Business, and more.
AI+SDGs Launchpad
The AI+SDGs Launchpad allows any school, college, university, or research institute to easily create and manage a curriculum that bridges the gap between the “Data-enabled Sciences” and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030. The Launchpad is a blueprint for single or multi-semester courses that allow students to engage on global challenges they are passionate about in a structured way.
The AI for Good Foundation provides mentoring connections to NGO’s, government, policy groups, and social benefit corporations, along with data, background research, and a proven course structure that delivers measurable and repeatable exposure to using AI for social good in a collaborative setting.
Our programmes have reached more than 500 students in 5 countries, with collaboration on a range of SDG topics from urban development and media bias, to ocean health. Students connect on an ongoing basis as Launchpad alumni to share ideas and research as they grow in their careers.
Get involved: AI for Good is looking for professors, research, and policy professionals to get involved as project mentors. If you are an organization that trains students from advanced secondary through graduate degrees, get in touch with us to start building your AI+SDG Launchpad.
Select Partners: UC Berkeley, University of Sao Paulo, Queen Mary College London, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, and more.
Sustainable AI Policy
The AI for Good Foundation collaborates with policy groups, think tanks, and nonprofits to assist in developing AI policy frameworks for regional, national, and international governmental agencies.
These collaborations provide customized recommendations for responsible AI growth and utilization to the organizations and governments with whom we partner. Our passion is to work with developing nations to design national AI policy frameworks by which they can meet the needs of their populace. Additionally, having a national AI policy in place gives developing nations the road map by which to navigate interests from multinational corporations and cross border collaborations.
By sharing our expertise in this format, we are able to further the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as demonstrate our “zero-footprint” AI model.
Get involved: Like minded non-profit organizations and policy groups should contact us to consult on AI strategic policy for developing nations and regions. We welcome collaboration with subject matter experts on this complex and evolving issue.
Select Partners: OECD, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, European Council, International Research Center for AI
The Intelligent Cities Project (ICP)
The "AI self-assessment tool" is for city administrations to understand the areas where AI will likely affect their specific region and population in the coming years. Our web-based survey generates a series of recommendations specific to the demographics and needs of an urban area.
The recommendations we make come with links to resources and organizations that can help with scalable programme implementation. The goals of this project are two-fold: this easy introductory step can help Intelligent Cities plan for the future and explore how Artificial Intelligent will shape their environment. Second, this initial engagement will lead to more policy engagement, and ecosystem building between local and national governments, AI for Good, and our partners. We will host 'Intelligent Cities' summits where leaders from each city can gather to share knowledge and best practices with their counterparts across the globe.
Get involved: We encourage all cities to take our self-assessment tool as a first step so that we can work together to get you the resources you need to benefit from the potential of Artificial Intelligence technologies. If you are a researcher, NGO, AI service provider, or other organization that has relevant capabilities for emerging intelligent cities, please get in touch so we can unlock more opportunities for cities around the world.
Fragile Earth
Since 2016 the AI for Good Foundation has organized the Fragile Earth community and associated events, bringing together researchers, subject matter experts, governments, and policy groups to learn and discuss how Artificial Intelligence can help address problems with the Earth’s Biome and threats to its stability.
AI for Good has partnered with IBM, the University of Minnesota, the University of Southern California, Northeastern University, Big Data Hubs, Syngenta, Cargill, the Santa Fe Institute, the ACM, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a variety other organizations in order to develop workshops, datasets, community engagement, and research that can have a direct impact on these themes. See our website for past events and more information.
Get involved: Do you have research relevant to the earth’s biomes (oceans, water systems, food security, climate change, geospatial imaging, etc.)? Subscribe to community updates, send us your work to showcase, and get involved in organizing our future workshops and summits.
Select Partners: IBM Research, World Resources Institute, USC Center for AI in Society (CAIS), Cargill, Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory (SDS Lab) at Northeastern University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and more.
SDG Progress Tracker
AI for Good and our project partners are leveraging AI and web-scale data to keep track of progress towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals in real time. In partnership with the RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and UNDP, the AI for Good Foundation develops Artificial Intelligence algorithms capable of reading the web at scale, and identifying solutions and progress on the SDG's.
Check out the SDG Trend Scanner Project, and stay tuned for Climate-specific tracking tools, and SDG sub category directed data projects.
Get involved: We seek to collaborate on data, research, and frameworks that can help better track and achieve the SDGs. Contact us if you would like to join our research efforts as a colleague or funding partner.
Select Partners: RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, UNDP, Jozef Stefan Institute
AI + Innovative Health
How can we use AI in a way that supports better global healthcare access, research, and systems?
AI for Good and our partners seek to support the Sustainable Development Goals through the lense of lifelong health, healthcare access, and innovative research. This topic is also featured in our policy work for local and national governments. AI for Good considers public health, healthcare systems, and individual health in our customized AI Policy Recommendations.
Get involved: Contact us if you are a researcher or fellow non-profit working on the UN’s health-related SDGs. We welcome opportunities to collaborate to create impactful healthcare innovations. If you are a funding partner interested in applying AI to solve healthcare challenges, we would like to discuss how we can work together.
Financial Data Science Association ( FDSA)
AI for Good’s Financial Data Science Association organizes international summits and research at the intersection of data, Artificial Intelligence, and global finance. We bring together top leaders across the financial industry to build and share best practices, and accelerate the appropriate use of Artificial Intelligence for increasing financial inclusion, market efficiency, and transparency. Our approach creates buy-in for intelligent innovations from the highest levels of leadership in the financial industry, mobilizing wide-spread change and mitigating often ‘entrenched’ attitudes towards technology-driven innovation.
Get involved: Contact us if you would like to host an FDSA event or support our work in AI-driven change towards more resilient and transparent financial institutions.
Select Partners: University College Dublin, Western Economics Association, JP Morgan, UBS, Banco Bradesco
SDG Data Catalogue
Modern scientific research for Sustainable Development depends on the availability of large amounts of relevant real-world data. Despite this need, there are currently no extensive global databases that associate existing data sets with the research domains they cover. The SDG Data Catalogue is an open, extensible, global database of data sets, metadata, and research networks built automatically by mining millions of published open access academic works.
The system leverages advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to extract and organize deep knowledge of datasets available that is otherwise hidden in plain sight in the continuous stream of research generated by the scientific community. The goal, ultimately, is to connect researchers and students with SDG-relevant datasets so that their work can make meaningful progress towards social good.
Get involved: The AI for Good Foundation is continually looking for researchers and experts in the machine learning field to pool our collective talent in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The SDG Data Catalogue is structured so that research and data sets can be submitted and shared. Free flow of knowledge and open source data is at the core of our vision. Contact us to submit your research and to advise on the build out of the search tool.
Select Partners: ACM, INFORMS, UC Berkeley
LifeForce
The AI for Good Foundation's Economists for Ukraine initiative has created LifeForce (mysyla.org) as an economic support platform to safely help people find the things they need in real-time during the war in Ukraine. We make it difficult for saboteurs to exploit the platform to target civilian infrastructure, and have teams of full-time employees in each city to manage the platform. We cover 37,000+ locations, including food stores, pharmacies, medical care facilities, shelters, transport systems, fuel, pet/baby/clothing supplies, and custom requests for help from the local community. LifeForce represents our Humanitarian Aid 2.0 segment, pursuing a more effective emergency response and economic resilience strategy, from the local community.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
The Earthshot Project 2021
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of people within the organization's service area accessing food aid
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Victims and oppressed people
Related Program
LifeForce
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Launch of our Humanitarian Aid 2.0 platform, from pilot to its current scale in Ukraine, where it is accessible to ~8M people in an active war zone.
Number of organizations accessing technical assistance offerings
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Unemployed people, Ethnic and racial groups, Adults, Children and youth
Related Program
The Intelligent Cities Project (ICP)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes cities, national governments, corporate network partners, incubator companies, etc.
Number of jobs created and maintained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Victims and oppressed people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In 2022 so far this number is 40+ in Ukraine alone.
Total dollars loaned to businesses
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Victims and oppressed people
Related Program
LifeForce
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is tracking USAID loans made via the LifeForce project humanitarian support programme, active since March 2022.
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Immigrants and migrants, Victims and oppressed people, Farmers, Veterans
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Reach of programmes taken in sum. Number of people with access to the technology we develop or the programmes we run.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Volunteers signed up via our volunteer screening programme and placed into projects.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Economic Resilience through Technology
We operate through three primary pillars: Intelligent Societies, Humanitarian Aid 2.0, and Catalysing Innovation.
Intelligent Societies: supporting communities, cities, regional, and national governments to craft development strategies that leverage the best available technologies, institutional forms, and change management strategies to propel real progress across critical challenges--from healthcare and education, to urban infrastructure and employment. We emphasise human-driven solutions, and our work focusses on harnessing the sustainable devleopment agenda to maximise impact at all levels. We have worked with the OECD, European Commission, US Office of Science and Technology Policy, the governments of the United Kingdom, United States, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Ethiopia, and city governments across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. We craft detailed and realistic strategies, implement technology pilot programmes, train staff, manage partner networks, and coordinate across multitudes of entities to make change happen, to measure it, and nurture a culture of innovation.
Humanitarian Aid 2.0: promoting community-driven resilience during and after an emergency to provide the right resources to the right people to solve real problems in real time. Today's humanitarian aid is a historical relic. Trucks stuffed with generic aid, given to whomever shows up, with little to no real accountability. As the aid keep rolling in, it undermines local businesses' ability to continue operating, devastating the local economy and leading to a dependency on aid. Community organisations that provide 90% of the real help are locked out of the funding needed to operate, while a few international NGO's with big marketing budgets absorb every last ounce of charitable giving, despite lacking the ability to spend the money effectively. LifeForce is a new approach to disaster response. Our local teams manage the deployment of a multi-lateral ecosystem that civilians access with their smartphones, allowing them to find food, medicine, health care, shelter, transport, basic supplies, and more in real time based on location and need. Service providers, store owners, pharmacy networks, hospitals, and community organisations can easily maintain up-to-date inventory information, and the government receives detailed supply and demand data in order to efficiently allocate resources. Through our platform, businesses receive targeted grants and loans to maintain critical services, volunteers connect to gig employment (e.g. medicine deliveries, evacuations), and critical emergency information is easily and quickly disseminated.
Catalysing Innovation: incubating, nurturing, piloting, and scaling start-ups and social benefit solutions to address the sustainable development goals in a market-driven manner. A global community of start-ups, investors, and stakeholder organisationsis pioneering a new framework for social innovation.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Intelligent Societies: policy development, research, technology development, pilots, scaling, training, partnership network management, and programme implementation.
Humanitarian Aid 2.0: Resilient technology platforms that connect stakeholders during emergencies to make access to critical resources simple and efficient no matter the circumstances on the ground. Working with governments and response agencies, employing local staff.
Innovation Catalyst: Incubation programme for start-ups solving problems related to the Sustainable Development Goals. Open curricula for universities and high schools helping to train the next generation of tech-enabled sustainability-focussed leaders.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
- Expertise in the development of technology-enabled policies at the local, regional, and national level;
- Capability and bandwidth to develop specific advanced technologies for deployment in government, social, and sustainability settings;
- Access to and management of a global network of partners, including universities, corporates, investors, NGO's, and governments;
- Ability to operate in hybrid settings with both digital and human resources to achieve specific strategic outcomes.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have developed and deployed several national AI and digitisation strategies, as well as the deployment of multi-sectoral strategies in regions and cities across North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
We have developed humanitarian emergency-response technology that is active for 8M people in Ukraine, and ready for deployment to new emergency zones as needed in future.
We have graduated 15 companies through our SDG Catalyst incubation programme.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
AI for Good Foundation
Board of directorsas of 11/25/2022
Michael Witbrock
AI Foundations Lab at IBM TJ Watson Research Center
James Hodson
AI for Good FOundation
Rayid Ghani
Center for Data Science and Public Policy, Urban Center on Computation and Data, Computation Institute
Marko Grobelnik
Jozef Stefan Institute, Quintelligence, European Commission Digital Champion Slovenia
Claudia Perlich
Two Sigma
Achim Rettinger
Trier University
Abe Hsuan
Irwin & Hsuan LLP
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/24/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.