Founded in 2018 by the late Abhishek Gupta and Renjie Butalid, the Montreal AI Ethics Institute (MAIEI) is an international non-profit dedicated to democratizing AI ethics literacy. We believe that civic competence is the foundation of change—by equipping citizens, policymakers, and industry leaders with the knowledge to navigate AI’s societal impact, we empower them to shape a more responsible and ethical future.
Honoring Our Founder
MAIEI was co-founded by Abhishek Gupta (1992-2024), a visionary leader in AI ethics. His dedication to making AI governance more inclusive and accessible inspired a global movement. We continue this work in his memory, ensuring that AI ethics remains a public good.
What We Do
- Education
- The AI Ethics Brief – A bi-weekly newsletter read by 15,000+ subscribers, offering concise insights into AI ethics.
- AI Ethics Living Dictionary – A plain-language guide to technical AI and social science terms, making AI ethics accessible to everyone—no prior knowledge required!
- State of AI Ethics Reports – Comprehensive overviews of AI policy, research, and emerging issues.
- Advocacy
- Public Consultations – We ensure the public’s voice is included when policymakers make AI-related decisions.
- Supporting key initiatives like the Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of AI and the European Digital Rights’ call for AI red lines in the European Union’s AI proposal.
- Community
- Learning Community – A cohort-based program for deeper engagement with AI ethics topics.
Support Our Mission đź’™
MAIEI is a non-profit that relies on donations to continue democratizing AI ethics literacy. Every contribution helps us:
- Expand our reach through events, research, and education.
- Maintain privacy-respecting tools instead of ad-driven models.
- Honor Abhishek Gupta’s legacy by funding scholarships and future AI ethics leaders.
How You Can Help:
- Become a paid subscriber to support our newsletter.
- Make a donation – One-time or recurring contributions keep MAIEI sustainable.
- Corporate sponsorships – Partner with us to shape responsible AI governance.
Our Values
- Accessibility. We have an open access policy for all our content so that it can be adapted by anyone, and never paywall anything. Learn more about our open access policy.
- Readers first. We respect our readers’ time, attention, and privacy. That’s why we avoid: clickbaity headlines, software that tracks our readers, and writing content that’s longer than it needs to be.
- Ethical revenue generation. Because our business model focuses on sponsored content and donations, we don’t have to optimize for clicks — we can write unsexy content like summaries of research papers. Nor do we need to collect and sell our readers’ data to third parties — we use Fathom Analytics rather than Google Analytics, even if it costs us a few extra bucks. You can support our efforts with a donation.
Press (see full list here)
Want quick summaries of the latest research & reporting in AI ethics delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to The AI Ethics Brief. We publish bi-weekly.