etami

What etami does

etami (Ethical and Trustworthy Artificial and Machine Intelligence) is a non-profit organization structured as an independent-governance Task Force within the Big Data Value Association (BDVA). Founded in 2021 and headquartered under BDVA in Brussels, etami does not build AI products; instead, it produces open methodologies, frameworks, and documentation templates that help organizations translate European and global AI ethics principles (EC HLEG-AI, OECD AI Principles, UNESCO Recommendations, EU AI Act, GDPR) into measurable engineering practices. Its core offerings are the etami Open Guidebook, an AI Auditing Framework derived from ALTAI, a Risk Taxonomy with an Ethical Concern Finder, Quality-Centric Lifecycle Models, AI Documentation Practices (DataSheets, Model Cards, FactSheets), Assurance Cases combined with Acceptance Test-Driven Development, AI Security Guidelines, Legal Sandboxing and Policy Prototyping concepts, and an ongoing Lecture Series on AI law topics.

The underlying technology consists of process and documentation frameworks rather than software systems: a quality-centric reimagining of the ML lifecycle (specification, data management, model management, deployment) with quality assessment at each iterative phase; a 4-dimensional risk taxonomy (Objective, Subject, Input Data, Context) for characterizing AI use cases; and an auditing process that maps practices to EU regulatory phases from planning through risk assessment and reporting. All artifacts are open source, hosted in a public GitLab repository, and freely accessible via etami.org and guidebook.etami.org.

etami's business model is non-commercial. It generates no licensing revenue and offers no pricing plans. Operational funding flows from BDVA through partnership and membership contributions from large industry actors, SMEs, academia, research institutions, and public bodies. The go-to-market is community-led: education via the guidebook, lecture series, social media (@etamiAI, LinkedIn), and partner onboarding through BDVA. Etami serves four primary customer segments (large industry actors, SMEs, academia/research, and public bodies/government) plus secondary associations seeking to develop AI ethics guidelines for their members. The organization's stated strategy is to operationalize AI principles, drive adoption of ethical AI standards, and develop an inclusive multi-stakeholder network, with no current indication of a commercial pivot.

Name

etami

Legal name

BDVA TF etami

Website

https://etami.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

etami is a non-profit Task Force within BDVA that creates open methodologies, auditing frameworks, and documentation templates to help organizations build ethical, trustworthy, and legally compliant AI systems under the EU AI Act and GDPR.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Ethics & Governance Frameworks

NAICS

Other Computer Related Services (541519), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Audit, Explainability & Accountability Tooling (traceability, reporting) (HDAAAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Documentation & Reporting Automation (Model Cards, Datasheets, Impact Assessments) (HDAAAMAJ), Model Transparency, Explainability & Interpretability (XAI) (HDAAAMAB)

Keywords

• Ethical AI frameworks
• AI auditing methodology
• AI documentation practices
• AI risk assessment
• AI lifecycle management

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Partnership and Membership Model: etami operates as a Task Force within BDVA (Big Data Value Association), a non-profit organization. Organizations become partners through BDVA membership to shape the development of ethical and trustworthy AI frameworks. The organization creates open tools and standards for public benefit.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

etami creates open processes, tools, frameworks, and guidelines that enable organizations to develop legal, trustworthy, and ethical AI systems. Its central product is an open online guidebook covering quality-centric lifecycle models, AI auditing procedures, documentation practices (DataSheets, Model Cards, FactSheets), and risk taxonomy tools, complemented by an online lecture series on AI law topics. All resources are provided as open, freely accessible frameworks through etami's Task Force within BDVA.

Product overview

etami (Ethical and Trustworthy Artificial and Machine Intelligence) is a non-profit organization that operates as a Task Force within the Big Data Value Association (BDVA). Rather than building AI products, etami creates processes, tools, and frameworks to enable ethical, trustworthy, and legal AI development. The core offering is the Open Guidebook—a comprehensive online resource covering actionable guidelines, methodologies, and templates for AI ethics, compliance, and trustworthiness. Supporting products include a Lecture Series on AI law topics, an AI Auditing Framework based on ALTAI methodology, AI Documentation Practices (DataSheets, Model Cards, FactSheets), a Risk Taxonomy Tool with an Ethical Concern Finder, Quality-Centric Lifecycle Models, AI Security Guidelines, Assurance Cases with ATDD, and Legal Sandboxing & Policy Prototyping frameworks. These interconnected resources work together to help organizations translate European and global AI ethics principles into measurable, actionable practices throughout the AI system lifecycle.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• etami open guidebook: An open guidebook representing etami's activities around creating actionable guidelines on legal, trustworthy, and ethical Artificial Intelligence

Products and services

• etami Open Guidebook An open, comprehensive online guidebook providing actionable guidelines on developing legal, trustworthy, and ethical AI systems, covering quality-centric lifecycle models, documentation practices, AI auditing procedures, and legal toolboxes. Targeted at organizations researching, developing, or applying AI methodologies.
• etami Lecture Series An online lecture series serving as a platform for exchange and discussion on legal topics related to AI, including legal requirements for explanation of decisions, GDPR in context of machine learning, and data regulation. Includes upcoming events and recordings of past sessions.
• AI Auditing Framework A comprehensive auditing framework for AI systems based on lifecycle models, incorporating risk assessment methodologies derived from ALTAI, designed to enable organizations to assess compliance with EU AI regulations throughout the entire AI system lifecycle.
• AI Documentation Practices Documentation methodologies and templates including DataSheets, Model Cards, and FactSheets to increase transparency and reproducibility of AI systems, aligned with EU AI Act requirements.
• Risk Taxonomy Tool A 4-dimensional taxonomy framework (Objective, Subject, Input Data, Context) for describing key characteristics of any AI use case, accompanied by an online Ethical Concern Finder tool that identifies primary ethical concerns and assigns relative risk ratings.
• Quality-Centric Lifecycle Models Lifecycle models that integrate quality assurance practices into each phase of AI system development (System specification, Data management, Model management, Deployment), reflecting real-life iterative processes with specs/quality-assessment duality inherent to data and model management phases.
• AI Security Guidelines Comprehensive guidelines covering AI security challenges including data privacy (model inversion, membership inference), model confidentiality (extraction), data integrity (poisoning), model robustness (evasion), and software/hardware security (backdoor attacks).
• Assurance Cases with ATDD An argumentation framework combining Assurance Cases with Acceptance Test-Driven Development to justify and document why evidence supports claims under given assumptions, particularly for testing soft requirements like fairness, ethics, and diversity.
• Legal Sandboxing & Policy Prototyping Frameworks for regulatory sandboxes enabling experimentation and testing of AI systems, and policy prototyping methodologies for testing proposed AI regulations in the field before finalization.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• BDVA (Big Data Value Association)coreStrategic or Co-development Partneretami is implemented as a Task Force within BDVA, with independent governance and contents creation. BDVA is a non-profit organization focused on data value and AI. The partnership enables etami to operate under BDVA's umbrella while maintaining independent governance and content development.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Credo AI: SaaS platform for AI governance, risk assessment, and documentation — comparable to etami's risk taxonomy, auditing, and documentation practices but delivered as paid software.
• Holistic AI: Commercial AI governance, risk, and compliance platform offering auditing and documentation tooling — an emerging commercial counterpart to etami's open frameworks.
• AI Ethics Lab: Research and advisory organization focused on operationalizing AI ethics, overlapping with etami's applied frameworks and stakeholder-inclusive processes.

Direct peers

• Responsible AI Institute (RAII): Non-profit that develops certification frameworks and assessments for responsible AI, directly comparable to etami's AI Auditing Framework and lifecycle-based quality assurance methodology.
• ForHumanity: Non-profit developing AI audit frameworks and auditor certification, directly comparable to etami's AI Auditing Framework and Assurance Cases with ATDD.
• Partnership on AI: Multi-stakeholder non-profit convening industry, academia, and civil society to develop AI best practices, directly comparable to etami's community-driven model within BDVA.
• Montreal AI Ethics Institute: Research-focused non-profit producing reports and frameworks on AI ethics, overlapping with etami's guidebook, lecture series, and applied methodology work.
• The Institute for Ethical AI & Machine Learning: Non-profit producing open frameworks and best practices for ethical ML, overlapping with etami's quality-centric lifecycle models and documentation practices.

Broad incumbents

• OneTrust: Large trust intelligence platform with expanding AI governance capabilities, comparable as a broad incumbent addressing AI risk, documentation, and compliance at enterprise scale.
• IBM Responsible AI: Large incumbent with published AI ethics principles, governance tooling (watsonx.governance), and consulting practices addressing the same compliance and lifecycle challenges etami targets.

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/etamiAI
• GitHubgitlab.com/etami/guidebook
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/etami

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about etami