Five of the world's leading tech companies this week unveiled a new nonprofit group that seeks to build public awareness of artificial intelligence and responsibly develop the groundbreaking technology. Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft are the founding members of the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society, and each will contribute financial and research resources to the group. Research published by the Partnership for AI will be made available on an open license; it's expected to focus on a wide range of topics, from the reliability and effectiveness of AI systems to questions about AI and ethics, transparency and privacy. "This partnership will ensure we're including the best and the brightest in this space in the conversation to improve customer trust and benefit society," Amazon machine learning director Ralf Herbrich said in a statement.