We are excited to announce a new project, AI and Open Data: Open Data Needs for AI and International Development. Governments, researchers, and civil society tackling development problems in the global south continue to face challenges of data access and availability. Cutting edge analytical techniques, like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are promising to increase the effectiveness of development initiatives, but still require quality data as inputs. Open data is still as important for sustainable development as ever. As a field, AI receives significant optimism for its potential impact on sustainable development, including its potential to improve agricultural practices and productivity through aerial and remote sensing, monitor disease outbreaks, and plan and manage energy grids.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has the capacity to extract deeper insights from datasets than other techniques. Examples of AI are: speech recognition, natural language, processing, chatbots or voice bots. To get AI applications to work, big sets of high quality (open) data are necessary. But what requirements does this data have to meet? To answer this question, we need to look more closely at what requirements data need to have to enable successful AI applications.