Mozilla announced on Tuesday that it’s offering five-figure grants to researchers and creatives studying the impact of artificial intelligence on society. This latest round of the annual Mozilla awards will net lucky winners up to $50,000 for producing AI-awareness content: videos, browser extensions, or interactive data visualizations.
The problems of AI are legion: YouTube’s algorithms have been criticized for harming children by introducing them to hugely inappropriate content, Facebook’s content-moderating AI exacerbates fake news, while Google employees staged a series of public protests after a Gizmodo report uncovered its AI was being used by the US military. Complex societal issues, racism, misogyny, militarism, etc. are being re-created in the tools we build.
To bring awareness to the ways AI and machine learning may threaten “a healthy internet,” Mozilla wants to reward creative artists and researchers for digging into the topic, offering a total of $225,000 to seven lucky applicants. People can apply as individuals or as groups. The individual awards may change, but Mozilla’s site lists the packages as follows:
- Two $50,000 total prize packages ($47,500 award + $2,500 MozFest travel stipend)
- Five $25,000 total prize packages ($22,500 award + $2,500 MozFest travel stipend)
Applicants will be judged by a committee of Mozilla staff and former fellows, and they’ll be accepted through August 1, 2018. Winners will be announced during MozFest, held October 26-28, 2018.