Amplifying the founder voice
We are a global group of AI-first, venture-backed startup founders.
The Artificial Intelligence Founders Association (AIFA) was established by a small group of AI startup founders from the the US, UK and EU during the “spring of AI” in 2023.
As popular, commercial and government interest in Artificial Intelligence exploded over this period, world governments announced summits and roundtables regarding the future and regulation of AI. Those involved in these initiatives, however, were almost always large corporates, academics and politicians. One voice is invariably missing: that of the AI founder.
The Association’s mission is to give AI founders a seat at the table.
While academia germinates theory, and large corporates absorb and deploy innovation at scale, most quantum leaps have come from (initially) small start-ups that challenged conventional wisdom, took risks, and failed or succeeded in their attempts at the first ever commercial deployments.
It is start-up founders and their teams that are continuously exploring which innovations can be made real, and which cannot, reaping unique learnings along the way.
To speak of the future of AI without involving the voice of those who are actively determining what that future will look like - focusing instead exclusively on theory or existing innovations - is not to speak of the future of AI at all, only its past and present.
Why do we exist?
Working with large corporates, not against.
The Association seeks to give founders a prominent voice in the debate on the future and regulation of AI; in pursuit of that mission, the Association has built excellent relations with representatives from both the academic and corporate worlds, groups traditionally already included in the debate. We connect our members directly with these corporates, working together, not against each other, to ensure governments pay attention to the founder voice.
One of our US-based founding members is the Senior Director of AI at Microsoft, who is also a startup founder, and the association’s first formal gathering was co-organised by Google at its King’s Cross HQ in London.
If you represent a corporate and would like to work with the Association to achieve its mission, please reach out via the form linked by the button below.
Press
The Association exists to amplify the founder voice in the debate on the future and regulation of AI. Journalists and news organisations give us a platform to do so.
Our members are thought leaders that have appeared in UK, US, and EU national and international media, including the BBC, Forbes, Fortune, Sifted, Wired, and many others. If you are looking for a comment on a specific area of AI from a specialist in that area, or are looking to engage with AIFA leadership, please reach out using the inquiry form below.
The current association president is Dr Roeland P-J E Decorte, the association secretary is Dr Botty Dimanov, and among our early founding members is Dr Casey King, startup founder, Director at Yale University, Sr Director of AI Strategy at Microsoft, and one of the originators of “big data” under the Obama administration in the US.