The LF Deep Learning Foundation is now accepting proposals for the contribution of projects. The LF Deep Learning Foundation, a community umbrella project of The Linux Foundation with the mission of supporting artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning open source projects, is working to build a self-sustaining ecosystem of projects. Having a clear roadmap for how to contribute projects is a first step. Contributed projects operate under their own technical governance with collaboration resources allocated and provided by the Governing Board of the LF Deep Learning Foundation. Membership in the LF Deep Learning Foundation is not required to propose a project contribution.

It's a well-worn path that's followed when new technology comes around. It often starts in universities or large companies with big research budgets and an appetite for taking chances. There the new thing can be sussed out by patient students or engineers not graded on productivity and not facing a tape-out or go-to-market deadline. While they're willing to struggle along, knowing that they might be on the cusp of something great, at some point, the tedious aspects of making the new technology work become… well… tedious. And so they cobble together rough-and-ready tools that will save them some work.

Friday, March 30, 2018 The Linux Foundation has launched the LF Deep Learning Foundation, an umbrella organization that will support and sustain open source innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning while striving to make these critical new technologies available to developers and data scientists everywhere. Founding members of LF Deep Learning include Amdocs, AT&T, B.Yond, Baidu, Huawei, Nokia, Tech Mahindra, Tencent, Univa, and ZTE. With LF Deep Learning, members are working to create a neutral space where makers and sustainers of tools and infrastructure can interact and harmonize their efforts and accelerate the broad adoption of deep learning technologies. "We are excited to offer a deep learning foundation that can drive long-term strategy and support for a host of projects in the AI, machine learning, and deep learning ecosystems," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux Foundation. "With LF Deep Learning, we are launching the Acumos AI Project, a comprehensive platform for AI model discovery, development and sharing. In addition, we are pleased to announce that Baidu and Tencent each intend to contribute projects to LF Deep Learning. LF Deep Learning enables the open source community to support entire ecosystems of projects in these spaces, and we invit e the open source community to join us in this effort."

The Linux Foundation is aiming to expedite the market for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and deep learning with the launch of the LF Deep Learning Foundation at the Open Networking Summit Monday. The LF Deep Learning Foundation is designed to be a neutral space for developers and data scientists in the open source community to work together on projects related to deep learning technologies. At launch, members of the group include Amdocs, AT&T, B.Yond, Baidu, Huawei, Nokia, Tech Mahindra, Tencent, Univa and ZTE. As part of the DL Foundation, the Linux Foundation is also launching the Acumos AI Project designed specifically for AI model discovery, development and sharing. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Tech Mahindra Ltd. are contributing the initial code to the project -- available today -- as part of a program they announced back in October.

The Linux Foundation is continuing to expand its scope, announcing the launch of the LF Deep Learning Foundation on March 26. The goal of the LF Deep Learning Foundation is to make it easier to adopt and deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning methodologies for industry-specific use cases, including cyber-security threat detection, network automation and image recognition. The LF Deep Learning Foundation is backed by Amdocs, AT&T, B.Yond, Baidu, Huawei, Nokia, Tech Mahindra, Tencent, Univa and ZTE. The initial project at the core of the LF Deep Learning Foundation is Acumos, which was announced in November 2017, though few details were publicly disclosed at the time. The Acumos project integrates code contributed by AT&T and Tech Mahindra to enable organizations to more easily deploy AI models.

Despite its name, the Linux Foundation has long been about more than just Linux. These days, it's a foundation that provides support to other open source foundations and projects like Cloud Foundry, the Automotive Grade Linux initiative and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Today, the Linux Foundation is adding yet another foundation to its stable: the LF Deep Learning Foundation. The idea behind the LF Deep Learning Foundation is to "support and sustain open source innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning while striving to make these critical new technologies available to developers and data scientists everywhere." The founding members of the new foundation include Amdocs, AT&T, B.Yond, Baidu, Huawei, Nokia, Tech Mahindra, Tencent, Univa and ZTE.