Big techs unite to form the Frontier Model Forum. Led by industry biggies OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic, the forum is aimed at promoting safe and responsible development of frontier AI systems. The forum looks to advancing AI safety research, identifying best practices and standards, and allow information sharing between policy makers and industry. This collaboration comes as a continuation to the announcement of big tech collaborating to form responsible AI as per White House guidance. 

Open Collaboration

The Frontier Model Forum is welcoming participation from other organisations that are developing frontier AI models, to collaborate with them. The Forum will also support efforts that work towards meeting society’s challenges including climate change, early cancer detection and prevention, and fighting cyber threats. 

The Frontier Model will establish an Advisory Board to help guide its strategy that will represent a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. The forum will support existing government initiatives such as G7 Hiroshima, OECD’s work on AI risks, and US-EU trade. 

The Forum classifies frontier models as large-scale machine learning models that surpass the capabilities present in the advanced existing models. Companies looking to apply for membership need to follow a certain set of criteria such as developing frontier models as defined by the Forum, build safe and responsible frontier AI models, and contribute towards joint initiatives of the Forum in the development and functioning of the initiative.  

Anna Makanju, VP of Global Affairs, OpenAI said that it is vital for AI companies working on powerful models should “align on common ground and advance adaptable safety practices to ensure powerful AI tools have the broadest benefit possible.”

However, big tech such as Meta, Apple and Tesla are not in the picture. 

What about Meta? Will Apple Join? 

When it comes to large language models, the companies that have decided to come together are majorly closed-door. With the exception of Microsoft, who with their latest partnership with Meta launched Llama-2 – an open-source platform, the companies uniting are closed source. Meta is somehow now associating with the forum. 

Known for accessing open source tools without contributing to the development of technology, Apple is famous for building a closed door ecosystem. However, with Apple planning to build its own chatbot nicknamed AppleGPT, their efforts in advancing AI is evident. Will this qualify as a criteria for Apple to join the forum? It is to be seen if these biggies will join the club.