AI4ALL

AI4ALL is a US-based nonprofit dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in AI education, research, development, and policy. As of December 2022, AI4ALL has impacted over 10,000 people in all 50 states and around the world through our programs.

The idea for AI4ALL originated in early 2015. Dr. Olga Russakovsky, a Stanford University PhD student at the time, approached her advisor, renowned AI researcher Dr. Fei-Fei Li, with an idea for how to create more access for underrepresented people in the field of artificial intelligence. Later that year, along with Dr. Rick Sommer–Executive Director of Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies–the trio founded SAILORS. This program would be the first of its kind: a summer outreach program for high school girls to learn about human-centered AI.

Seeing the success and impact of SAILORS when his daughter Neha attended in 2016, Rab Govil joined the trio, contributing resources and experience starting and scaling companies, and helping craft the strategy to found AI4ALL as a national nonprofit with the mission to make AI more diverse and inclusive. Li, Russakovsky, Sommer, and Govil became founding board members. In 2017, with funding from Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, Jensen Huang, and Lori Huang, the four founding board members were able to build a team to bring their vision to reality. Tess Posner, a social entrepreneur with extensive experience in forging career pathways for people from marginalized groups, joined AI4ALL as CEO.

AI4ALL tripled its university partnerships in 2018, launching summer programs at Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, and Simon Fraser University. These programs ran alongside the existing Stanford University and University of California – Berkeley programs. In 2018, AI4ALL Summer Programs educated 150 young people from groups historically excluded from AI. This diverse student body graduated to become the next generation of AI leaders. These leaders are AI4ALL’s Changemakers in AI.