# Background

The Inference Cooperative exists to give people a real alternative for AI: a
service owned and directed by the people who use it, rather than rented from
an extractive industry. Members pay dues on a sliding scale and receive
private AI chat and API access through infrastructure the members govern
together.

We are a small cooperative by design, fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit
[Metagov](https://metagov.org) and managing member dues on
[Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/inference-cooperative).
For how to join and use it, see [Getting started](getting-started.md);
for our governance model, see the [Charter](charter.md).

## How we got here

The cooperative launched in September 2026, growing out of research on democratic
digital infrastructure through Metagov's [Collective Governance for AI: 
Points of Intervention](https://metagov.org/cg-ai/). It was founded by 
[Nathan Schneider](https://nathanschneider.info), who formerly co-founded
Social.coop, Start.coop, and the Media Economies Design Lab at the University
of Colorado Boulder.

It began with a single privacy-first provider and a deliberately small
toolset: a chat, an API gateway, and the basics for membership and payments.
From there it grew the way co-ops do: in response to what members asked for.
Green-energy providers were added, along with more diverse models.
A member dashboard made usage and spending transparent. A federated
[Matrix](https://matrix.inference.coop) server, a
[forum](https://forum.inference.coop), and a newsletter gave members places to
talk to each other and to the project. The
code that runs the member-facing services is available in public
repositories.

In October 2026, members adopted the co-op's first
[charter](charter.md) — a democratic constitution setting out values, roles,
and decision-making, with a commitment to redesign governance as the
community grows past 250 members.

## Where we're going

The near-term road: more model choices with strong privacy and environmental
records, infrastructure hosted with values-aligned providers, and the
working-group structure the charter describes. The longer arc: proving that
people can govern their AI the way they govern a credit union or a land trust
— and sharing what we learn with the co-ops that come after us.