43 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
# Background
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The Inference Cooperative exists to give people a real alternative for AI: a
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service owned and directed by the people who use it, rather than rented from
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an extractive industry. Members pay dues on a sliding scale and receive
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private AI chat and API access through infrastructure the members govern
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together.
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We are a small cooperative by design, fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit
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[Metagov](https://metagov.org) and managing member dues on
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[Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/inference-cooperative).
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For how to join and use it, see [Getting started](getting-started.md);
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for our governance model, see the [Charter](charter.md).
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## How we got here
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The cooperative launched in September 2026, growing out of research on democratic
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digital infrastructure through Metagov's [Collective Governance for AI:
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Points of Intervention](https://metagov.org/cg-ai/).
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It began with a single privacy-first provider and a deliberately small
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toolset: a chat, an API gateway, and the basics for membership and payments.
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From there it grew the way co-ops do: in response to what members asked for.
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A member dashboard made usage and spending transparent. A federated
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[Matrix](https://matrix.inference.coop) server, a
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[forum](https://forum.inference.coop), and a newsletter gave members places to
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talk to each other and to the project. The
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code that runs the member-facing services is available in public
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repositories.
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In October 2026, members adopted the co-op's first
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[charter](charter.md) — a democratic constitution setting out values, roles,
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and decision-making, with a commitment to redesign governance as the
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community grows past 250 members.
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## Where we're going
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The near-term road: more model choices with strong privacy and environmental
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records, infrastructure hosted with values-aligned providers, and the
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working-group structure the charter describes. The longer arc: proving that
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people can govern their AI the way they govern a credit union or a land trust
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— and sharing what we learn with the co-ops that come after us.
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