Sunbird AI is a non-profit organisation registered in Uganda with a 501(c)(3) Equivalence Determination status. Sunbird AI was registered in 2019 with the goal of developing practical AI systems for social good and in turn generating evidence for decision making and policy through these systems.

In particular, we aim for leadership by example: we develop open systems that can be replicated or expanded by others. For this to happen, we are committed to open source and open research, so that others can build on what we are doing.

Sunbird AI has a practical focus, and systems development work is in response to a specific need from some partner organisation. Our projects start life in discussion with local partner organisations, where we assess if technology can be used practically, ethically and usefully to solve a problem. Not all of our projects involve building systems for end users, though.

We are also interested in creating the resources (e.g. software or datasets) which enable others to create practical AI systems. We also aim to be a neutral source of advice for African institutions on the practical possibilities, benefits and risks of AI technology.

For example, the ethics of artificial intelligence are a complex and rapidly evolving field, where it is necessary to evaluate biases, privacy concerns and factors in data technology: as well as maintaining ethical standards on our own projects, we wish to help other organisations to do so. We are also committed to building African technical capacity, in order to have a team who understand both the social context and also the technological opportunities.