Our Work
REAL ML (Research, Engagement, Advocacy and Lived Experience in Machine Learning) is an independent non-profit organization that works to advance research and interventions that hold the use of AI and algorithmic technologies to account.
- We support a global, interdisciplinary community of people from a wide range of roles and sectors to advance their knowledge, grow their contacts and progress their work.
- We’re driven by values of human rights and civil liberties, and focus on supporting work with and by people with marginalized identities, with a focus on participatory research methodologies.
How We Work
REAL ML primarily holds community events that create a unique space for people working on algorithmic accountability to advance critical thinking on AI, and challenge dominant tech industry narratives with critiques that promote equity, human rights, and lived experience.
We offer a supportive social infrastructure that encourages people to acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers, promotes learning from others, and shows that everyone has valuable contributions in terms of substantive feedback and support for others’ work.
We are committed to creating a space that doesn’t otherwise exist – that we, as researchers and advocates in the tech justice field, sorely need.
We are building an essential community of practice
REAL ML is the first network of its kind to build bridges, pool expertise, resources and time in pursuit of algorithmic accountability, beyond the confines of a single organization or institution, discipline and region. We pursue rigorous work in a space committed to mutual growth, learning and peer support.
We invest in individuals
We believe that connecting, upskilling and resourcing individuals in the algorithmic accountability field sets us apart from other organizations. Collaborative projects and critical feedback rely on trusting relationships at the individual level, and as people move between roles, organizations and even sectors, they remain part of the REAL ML community.
We hold space for imperfection
We place emphasis on collaboration, bringing work in an unfinished state. Community members all have an equal status – we are consciously trying to eschew the hierarchy of traditional organizations, and the polished, competitive nature of some aspects of our field.