Established 2026 · Palo Alto, CA

Building the commons
for trustworthy AI

Technology Commons Alliance advances public-interest research, policy, and infrastructure so that artificial intelligence benefits everyone — not just those who own it.

501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization
Program-Related Investment Focus
Nonpartisan Research & Convening
Open-Source Infrastructure
"The question is not whether AI will reshape society. The question is whether that reshaping serves the common good — or concentrates power in fewer and fewer hands." — Founding Statement, Technology Commons Alliance

AI that answers to everyone

Technology Commons Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to ensuring that the transformative power of artificial intelligence is governed, distributed, and deployed in the public interest.

We bring together research institutions, philanthropic capital, policymakers, and civil society to build the shared infrastructure — technical, legal, and normative — that responsible AI requires.

Our work spans open-source model development, governance frameworks, institutional capacity-building, and the patient, long-term convenings that create durable trust between communities and technology systems.


Four pillars of the commons

01

Open Infrastructure

Developing and stewarding shared technical infrastructure — model weights, evaluation benchmarks, safety datasets — as public goods available to all researchers.

02

Governance Frameworks

Co-designing with governments and civil society the legal and normative standards that enable accountable, auditable, and rights-respecting AI deployment at scale.

03

Institutional Capacity

Building the research and implementation capacity of universities, nonprofits, and governments in the Global South so the benefits of AI are globally distributed.

04

Catalytic Capital

Deploying Program-Related Investments and patient philanthropic capital toward ventures and projects that produce public goods the market would otherwise under-fund.

Programs at the frontier

Each TCA initiative is designed to address a structural gap in the AI ecosystem — not to duplicate what markets or governments already do, but to fill the spaces they cannot.

Research

Commons Model Lab

Open models create the conditions for real understanding. Their transparency enables researchers to probe limitations, optimize performance, and study the underlying behavior of powerful AI systems in ways closed models do not.

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Policy

AI Governance Studio

Practitioner-focused convenings that translate academic research into actionable governance frameworks for legislatures, regulatory agencies, and international bodies.

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Investment

Public-Interest AI Fund

A Program-Related Investment vehicle providing below-market capital to mission-aligned organizations building AI tools for healthcare, education, and civic infrastructure.

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Capacity

Global South AI Institute

Partnering with universities across Africa, South and Southeast Asia to build local AI safety and governance research capacity through fellowships and co-sponsored labs.

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Infrastructure

Evaluation Commons

Maintaining an independent, community-owned suite of safety and capability benchmarks that no single company controls — essential infrastructure for credible AI assessment.

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Convenings

Responsible AI Salon Series

Intimate, off-the-record gatherings of foundation officers, government officials, and technologists to develop shared frameworks for philanthropic strategy in AI.

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Latest from TCA

View All Publications
March 2026 · Report

Benchmarking AI Safety Research Across Funding Ecosystems

Our annual comparative study of public versus private safety research output across fifteen major jurisdictions.

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February 2026 · Commentary

Open Weights Are Not Enough: The Case for Open Governance

Why releasing model weights without commensurate governance infrastructure may widen, rather than close, the AI divide.

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Trusted by leading institutions

TCA partners with universities, foundations, and government agencies committed to public-interest AI research and deployment.

Ford Foundation
Stanford University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Board & Advisory Council

JC
Jared Crooks
Board Chair
COO, Open Athena Foundation
GR
Gal Raz
Program Lead
Technology Commons Alliance
SY
Songyee Yoon
President
Managing Partner, Principal Venture Partners

Ready to build the commons?

Whether you are a researcher, public interest minded founder, or research institution, we invite you to explore how TCA can partner with you achieve your public-interest AI goals.