A CERN for AI would essentially have three functions. It would serve as a meeting place, a platform for experts to interact and exchange ideas. Second, it would offer a research environment that the various existing research centers, even the large ones, including the Max Planck Institutes, simply cannot finance on their own. Third, it would be a global magnet for talent to create an alternative to the U.S.-based big tech companies. As a public-sector institution, the Center would be accountable to the public and largely seek to solve problems in the public interest. (2023) source Unverified

CERN for AI’s impact must extend beyond scientific breakthroughs to deliver tangible benefits for European society, from democratizing AI capabilities to catalyzing broader technological innovation. [...] In order for Europe to successfully build on such a foundation, CERN for AI’s research must diffuse beyond the walls of the institution and out into the real world. ARPA-type organisations often achieve this by using open science and specific IP-sharing agreements with partner or spin-off companies. However, the sensitive nature of certain AI technologies demands that CERN for AI has additional tools at its disposal. One way CERN for AI’s could achieve responsible diffusion of its most advanced (foundation) models, would be through a flexible, three-stage framework, that is inspired by a recent report from the Centre for the Governance of AI on the risks, benefits and alternatives to open-sourcing in AI. Initially, the institution could prioritize open-sourcing its models, enabling smaller firms and startups to build upon its research without the burden of extensive resource requirements. [...] For models that pose too grave a risk when being open sourced, distribution could shift to a secure licensing framework. Qualified firms would gain access to model weights in exchange for program funding, enabling them to develop products and services while CERN for AI maintains its research focus. At the end of a programme’s 5 to 7-year lifecycle, the focus would shift to technology diffusion, with key breakthroughs typically being open-sourced or licensed to partner or spin-off companies, and in rare cases being offered to consumers and businesses by a dedicated product team inside CERN for AI. (2025) source Unverified

Proponents of a CERN-like body for AI have called for its creation as a way to build safer AI systems, enable more international coordination in AI development, and reduce dependencies on private industry labs for the development of safe and ethical AI systems. Rather than creating its own AI systems, some argue, a CERN-like institution could focus specifically on research into AI safety. Similar sentiments have been repeated by other prominent actors in the AI governance ecosystem, including Ian Hogarth, chair of the UK’s AI Safety Institute, who argues that an international research institution offers a way to ensure safer AI research in a controlled and centralized environment without being driven by profit motive. A publicly funded international research organization conducting safety research might be more resilient than private sector labs to economic pressures, and better able to avoid the risk of profit-seeking motives overriding meaningful research into AI safety measures. (2024) source Unverified

As part of its knowledge-transfer mission, CERN encourages and supports the creation of companies that seek to build on its technologies and thus make CERN’s technological research available to society. In order to clarify how the Organization supports companies established to use CERN technologies (spin-off companies), CERN adopted the CERN Spin-off Policy in August 2018. The CERN Spin-off Policy summarises the framework of CERN’s support to spin-off companies, in terms of technology licensing, financial benefits and the use of CERN’s facilities and labels. It also details the Knowledge Transfer (KT) group’s role and the possible ways in which CERN personnel can be involved in spin-off companies and, by extension, in other types of commercial activity. (2019) source Unverified

We strive to be as flexible as possible when it comes to dissemination of our intellectual property. The technologies licenced under the Easy Access IP scheme will be royalty free and shared with qualified companies willing and able to take them to the market with clear benefits for the economy and for society. (2012) source Unverified