Partnership on AI

What Partnership on AI does

Partnership on AI (PAI), legally "Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society," is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) established in 2016 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded with multi-year grants from Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google/DeepMind, IBM, and Microsoft, alongside six nonprofit directors drawn from civil society, academia, and philanthropy. PAI's mission is to convene a cross-sector community — now spanning over 100 partners across industry, civil society, academia, and policy — to study, formulate, and publish best practices on artificial intelligence technologies. Its Board is structured with equal for-profit and not-for-profit representation to preserve independence and prevent any single partner from dominating the agenda.

The organization's core products are research publications and frameworks rather than software. These include the Guidance for Safe Foundation Model Deployment, Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media, Guidance for Inclusive AI, Guidelines for AI and Shared Prosperity, Strengthening the AI Assurance Ecosystem, Prioritizing Real-Time Failure Detection in AI Agents, and How AI Companies are Handling Suicide and Self-Harm Today. Supporting infrastructure includes international convenings (e.g., the Enterprise AI Governance Forum co-hosted with JPMorganChase, GitHub open foundation model workshops), an active Public Policy program, and a European Steering Committee. Topic coverage spans AI safety, AI and media integrity, AI labor and the economy, fairness/transparency/accountability, inclusive research and design, and public policy.

PAI does not sell a product. Its revenue model is philanthropic: a combination of corporate charitable contributions (non-earmarked to avoid conflicts of interest) and grants from philanthropic institutions including Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Luminate, and Knight Foundation. A $500,000 grant from Humanity AI in 2025 further illustrates ongoing funding diversification. The organization is classified as private (no public ticker), is not a subsidiary of any entity, and maintains its own social media and publishing infrastructure via partnershiponai.org.

Name

Partnership on AI

Legal name

Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society

Website

https://partnershiponai.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Partnership on AI is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) founded in 2016 that convenes 100+ partners across technology, civil society, academia, and philanthropy to publish AI governance frameworks, research, and industry guidelines addressing AI safety, synthetic media, labor, and inclusive deployment.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Policy and Governance Research

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Platforms (HDAAAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Responsible AI, AI Governance & Compliance Services (BPAEAHAJ), Regulatory Readiness & Audit Automation (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001) (HDAAAMAE), Audit, Explainability & Accountability Tooling (traceability, reporting) (HDAAAKAL), Documentation & Reporting Automation (Model Cards, Datasheets, Impact Assessments) (HDAAAMAJ)

Keywords

• Responsible AI frameworks
• AI safety research
• AI policy guidance
• Multistakeholder AI convening
• AI ethics guidelines

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Partnership on AI is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that convenes technology companies, civil society, academia, and policymakers to advance responsible AI. It delivers a portfolio of frameworks, guidelines, research reports, and ecosystem maps (e.g., Safe Foundation Model Deployment, Synthetic Media, Inclusive AI, AI Assurance Ecosystem, AI and Shared Prosperity) and hosts international forums and policy convenings for cross-sector AI governance collaboration.

Product overview

Partnership on AI (PAI) is a multi-stakeholder nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) — not a conventional product company — that advances positive outcomes for people and society through research collaborations, published frameworks, convenings, and industry guidelines. Rather than a unified software platform, PAI's offering portfolio consists of structured guidance documents, research publications, and collaborative forums. Core publications include the Guidance for Safe Foundation Model Deployment (a framework for responsible model development and deployment), the Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media framework (collective action for AI-generated content transparency), the Guidance for Inclusive AI (stakeholder engagement guidance), and the Guidelines for AI and Shared Prosperity (economic benefit distribution across AI actors). Supporting research includes ecosystem maps such as Strengthening the AI Assurance Ecosystem and thematic studies such as How AI Companies are Handling Suicide and Self-Harm Today. PAI further convenes international forums — such as the Enterprise AI Governance Forum co-hosted with JPMorganChase — and develops cross-industry guidelines. PAI's work spans topic areas including AI Safety, AI and Media Integrity, AI Labor and the Economy, Fairness Transparency and Accountability, Inclusive Research and Design, and Public Policy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Guidance for Safe Foundation Model Deployment

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• DLA PiperminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026DLA Piper joined PAI as a new partner in March 2026 as part of a cohort including ELLIS Alicante, MLCommons, Open Library Foundation, and Windfall Trust.
• MLCommonsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026MLCommons joined PAI as a new partner in March 2026 as part of a cohort including DLA Piper, ELLIS Alicante, Open Library Foundation, and Windfall Trust.
• Open Library FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026Open Library Foundation joined PAI as a new partner in March 2026 as part of a cohort including DLA Piper, ELLIS Alicante, MLCommons, and Windfall Trust.
• ELLIS AlicanteminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026ELLIS Alicante joined PAI as a new partner in March 2026 as part of a cohort including DLA Piper, MLCommons, Open Library Foundation, and Windfall Trust.
• Windfall TrustminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026Windfall Trust joined PAI as a new partner in March 2026 as part of a cohort including DLA Piper, ELLIS Alicante, MLCommons, and Open Library Foundation.
• JPMorganChasecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 February 2026PAI and JPMorganChase co-hosted the Enterprise AI Governance Forum in New York as an official pre-summit event ahead of the India AI Impact Summit. The forum brought together stakeholders to discuss scaling enterprise AI adoption safely, responsibly, and inclusively, identifying four key facets of responsible AI governance: Integration, Collaboration, Dynamism, and Human-centricity.
• Ingka Group (IKEA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 September 2024Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer representing about 90% of IKEA retail sales across 31 markets, has joined PAI. As part of the partnership, IKEA will contribute to global conversations on ethical AI use and work alongside experts from think tanks and philanthropic organizations to develop practical guidance for responsible AI deployment aligned with human-centric values. IKEA brings existing AI initiatives including a digital ethics framework, responsible automation practices, and an AI and Data Literacy movement.
• GitHubcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 April 2024PAI and GitHub co-hosted an in-person workshop on April 11, 2024, convening experts from industry, academia, and civil society to explore safeguards for open foundation models and responsibilities within the AI value chain. The workshop produced a framework mapping the open foundation model ecosystem and identified 15 risk mitigation strategies across three categories: Prevent, Detect, and Respond.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• IEEE Standards Association: Global standards body producing technical and ethical AI standards such as the Ethically Aligned Design framework. Comparable in producing authoritative AI ethics and governance documents, but rooted in formal standards development rather than nonprofit convening.
• Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI): Academic institute producing influential AI policy research, indexes, and convenings. Comparable in producing frameworks and convening multi-stakeholder dialogue, but operates with university backing and broader research scope than PAI.
• World Economic Forum (Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution): International organization convening governments and industry on AI governance and policy frameworks. Comparable in hosting AI summits and producing governance guidance, but with broader political economy scope and membership-based funding.
• OECD AI Policy Observatory: Intergovernmental platform supporting the OECD AI Principles with policy data, research, and multi-stakeholder convening. Comparable as a global convener producing AI governance guidance, though backed by member-state authority rather than nonprofit funding.

Direct peers

• AI Now Institute: Research institute producing policy research on the social implications of AI, with strong emphasis on accountability, labor, and rights. Directly comparable as an AI governance research and advocacy organization operating in the same nonprofit, multi-stakeholder space.
• Montreal AI Ethics Institute: Nonprofit producing applied AI ethics research, frameworks, and educational content. Comparable in publishing AI ethics guidance, operating as a nonprofit, and serving both practitioner and policymaker audiences.
• Future of Life Institute: Nonprofit focused on reducing existential and catastrophic risks from advanced AI through advocacy, grantmaking, and policy research. Highly comparable to PAI in mission, governance posture, and target audience of policymakers, labs, and civil society.
• Ada Lovelace Institute: UK-based research and advocacy body examining AI and data-driven technologies through a societal lens. Comparable as a mission-aligned nonprofit producing frameworks, research, and policy recommendations for responsible AI.
• Center for AI Safety: Research organization focused on AI existential and catastrophic risk, including the influential CAIS Statement on AI Risk. Comparable as a mission-driven nonprofit producing safety guidance, policy recommendations, and convening academic and industry voices.

Emerging players

• MLCommons: Engineering-focused consortium developing AI benchmarks, safety evaluations, and standards (including MLPerf and now a PAI partner). Comparable in producing safety and evaluation infrastructure for AI systems, but oriented toward technical benchmarking rather than governance convening.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/partnershipai
• YouTubeyoutube.com/partnershiponai
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/partnershipai
• Facebookfacebook.com/partnershipai

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Partnership on AI