For the past two years, the Mozilla Technology Fund has funded research and development in the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems; specifically, we have supported open source projects that have increased transparency and mitigated bias in the AI ecosystem. Increasingly, we are learning about the effects that the growing use of AI will have on ecosystems and the people who live in them. What steps might we take to reduce the environmental and climate impacts of AI adoption? And is there a role AI systems can play in addressing topics like environmental degradation, climate change, indigenous justice, food justice and energy justice? This year, the Mozilla Technology Fund seeks to fund open source projects at the intersection of environmental justice and AI which are making a positive impact in ecosystems and human communities.
| Project Name | Awardee | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Leveraging AI for Environmental Justice | Center for Justice Governance & Environmental (ACTI) | Kenya |
| AIG SMS for the Mau | L. Lusike Mukhongo | Kenya/U.S. |
| Estimating and Validating PM2.5 Levels | AirQo | Uganda |
| Air Quality for Asunción | Fernanda Carlés | Paraguay |
| Amazon Mining Watch | Rainforest Investigations Network/Earth Genome/Amazon Conservation | U.S. |
| Public Utility Data Liberation | Catalyst Coop | U.S. |
| CodeCarbon | CodeCarbon | France |
| MethaneMapper | EyeClimate | U.S. |
| Sand Mining Watch | University of California, Berkeley | India/U.S. |
| Zeus | Jae-Won Chung | U.S. |
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Lisa Gutermuth | Program Officer, Data Futures Lab |
| Bogdana Rakova | Senior Trustworthy AI Fellow, Mozilla Foundation |
| Maya Richman | Co-Lead, Green Screen Coalition |
| Jenny Wong | Sustainability Lead, Mozilla Corporation |
The staff who ran the MTF 2024 cohort consisted of the following Mozilla Foundation employees:
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Mehan Jayasuriya | Senior Program Officer |
| Jaselle Edward-Gill | Program Associate |
| Bogdana Rakova | Senior Trustworthy AI Fellow |
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