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The Mozilla Foundation turns 25 this year. In what will be its “next chapter”, Mitchell Baker, the president of this non-profit organization, announced in a blog post that the foundation will create two new companies: Mozilla.ai, to develop a trusted open-source artificial intelligence stack, and Mozilla Ventures, to invest in “responsible” tech companies. Mitchell Baker says, “We are growing our philanthropy and advocacy work, which promotes trustworthy AI.” The foundation has also since the beginning of 2020 as a subsidiary MZLA, dedicated to Thunderbird software.
An administrator for philanthropy
So Mozilla is looking for new leaders: it is looking for three new members for the foundation’s board of directors, who “will work closely with the boards of directors of Mozilla Corporation (established in 2005), Mozilla.ai and Mozilla Ventures. At least one of these new board members will play a pivotal role in guiding the foundation’s charitable programs, which focuses on building movements [au sens militant] and trustworthy AI.”
The president stresses that trustees need to talk with employees and volunteers, and understand the plurality of activities of the foundation, between its non-profit branches and its commercial activities:
“It’s important for our board members to understand all of this, including why we design consumer products and why we have a portfolio of organizations with different roles. It is equally important that the boards of our commercial subsidiaries understand why we run charitable programs within the Mozilla Foundation, which complement the work we do to develop products and invest in responsible tech companies” (end March, Mozilla was the main investor in Mammoth, a simplified access app to Mastodon).
Example of militant activity of the foundation, the meetings of its annual festival, MozFest (whose 2023 edition takes place next week, from March 20 to 24.
The description of the skills of the three directors sought is online here. The same document specifies that the most important of the commercial subsidiaries of the foundation, Mozilla Corporation, employs 1,000 people.
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