The Partnership for AI, a nonprofit group researching the uses of artificial intelligence, today announced it has expanded its already heavyweight support with the addition of 22 new members.

The group launched in September with support from Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and a range of other big tech firms. Joining the group are 16 nonprofit organizations that include the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, UNICEF and the XPRIZE Foundation, along with eight for-profit companies:  eBay Inc., Intel Corp., McKinsey & Co., Salesforce.com Inc., SAP SE, Sony Corp., Zalando SE and Cogitai Inc.

Along with the expansion of its support base, the Partnership for AI also announced its plan to launch a set of activities around the challenges and opportunities described in the core Thematic Pillars. The core areas of focus by the group include safety-critical AI; fair, transparent and accountable AI; collaborations between people and AI systems; AI, labor and the economy; social and societal issues around AI; and AI and social good.

The organization also launched topic-specific and sector-specific Working Groups to research and formulate best practices and create a Civil Society Fellowship program. That’s aimed at assisting people at nonprofits and non-governmental organizations that wish to collaborate on topics in AI and society.

Oren Etzioni, chief executive of AI2, one of the nonprofits joining the group, said in a statement that his company was “excited to work in collaboration with worthwhile organizations that are committed to building AI to benefit humanity.” He added that “the stakes are too high not to work together to develop AI responsibly to help solve some of the greatest human challenges.”

Image: Partnership on AI