Welcome to Ubuntu-AI!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a threat to creative arts and design, taking data and images without permission or compensation. This platform is dedicated to a new approach that helps African creatives work with AI instead of against it, based on the African philosophy of Ubuntu. As the leaders of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), members of your group ("contributors") can upload an image of their creative work--art, design, fashion, and so on--along with descriptions of their process and purpose. We are requiring that any AI company that wants access to that data to pay into a fund. We then return a portion of those funds, each week, to one of the contributors, through a lottery system. We are a research project, not a company, so we don't take a "cut" of their profits.

Helping your group access their pages

Once you sign up below, you will be able to send out invitations to the people in your group. We are counting on you to know who is in your group. If word gets out that this is a new opportunity, we might see scams from someone pretending to be African. So we encourage you to first focus on known members of your group. Any strangers who suddenly appear in your email with requests to join your group should be vetted before sending them an invitation.

Your lottery ticket

We have an initial fund of $40,000 from the OpenAI foundation. We will be running the lottery every week, for 40 weeks, from November 2023 to August 2024. So each week you will have the opportunity to win $1,000. Once you upload your images and descriptions, you are automatically enrolled. You cannot get more tickets with more projects. One person, one project, one lottery ticket. If we can get more companies to contribute, we will keep running the lottery. (Why a lottery? Because if we have 40,000 contributors, that is only $1 each. Ubuntu in practice is often done by pooling resources, so we apply an Indigenous tradition to solve a modern distribution problem).

Your art sales

In addition to the lottery, you also have the option of including a website where your creative work is sold, and contact information for buyers who want to license your images in AI or other projects. Maybe they want to pay for a high resolution version of the image for a book, or they are looking to pay someone to give a live demo of your technique. Your image and description will be viewable to anyone in the world on this platform, so whatever you do--anything from harvesting grass for a basket to 3D printing architecture in Nairobi—let folks know about it in your description.

Other benefits

We recently asked AI for examples of questions about African art. The examples it gave showed a European bias: "How was Picasso influenced by African art"? "Why was primitivism an important art movement?" For that reason we will ask you to create questions ("prompts") that someone might ask AI, in which the answer could lead them to your work. That might be "which plants make the dyes in Ghana's adinkra" or "How do Nigerians use digital technology in art" or anything involving your expression and work as an African creative. In other words, we hope to bring AI and the public more accurate and diverse information about creative works in Africa.

Disclaimer

Ubuntu-AI encourages a collaborative and creative environment. While we strive to provide a positive experience, we must emphasize that: -Users are responsible for the content they upload. -Please respect copyright and intellectual property rights. -Any disputes should be resolved amicably within the community.

User Agreement

By signing up, you agree to abide by our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Please review them carefully. Ready to share your art and be part of our vibrant community? Click the "Sign Up" button below to get started!

Questions? Reach out to our Support Team for assistance (select "I am already enrolled, just need assistance" in the contact page.)