Meet the Sydney-based mediator who brokered a truce between tech giants: How Manik Surtani's efforts are keeping agentic AI open and accessible.
In the world of artificial intelligence, a quiet revolution is taking place, orchestrated by a Sydney-based technologist named Manik Surtani. His mission? To ensure that agentic AI remains open and accessible, rather than falling into the hands of a few powerful companies. Surtani's efforts have led to a remarkable collaboration between two of the world's leading AI labs, OpenAI and Anthropic, who were once rivals, with their competition spilling over into the Super Bowl with mocking ads.
Surtani, Block's Head of Open Source, has been quietly working behind the scenes to bring these two AI powerhouses together. The result? The Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF), an open foundation established under the Linux Foundation, which has already gained the support of 130 companies, including tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cloudflare, and Bloomberg. Chinese tech giant Alibaba has also joined the initiative, with more companies expected to follow.
Surtani's concern is not about robots taking over, but rather the potential for AI to become monopolized and controlled by a few companies, leading to abuse and misuse. He envisions a future where AI is accessible to all, free from the constraints of a few powerful entities. By fostering collaboration and open development, Surtani believes that agentic AI can be a force for good, benefiting society as a whole.
The AAIF's mission is to create a collaborative environment where companies can work together to develop and improve agentic AI, ensuring that it remains open and accessible. This initiative is a significant step towards a more democratic and inclusive approach to AI development, where the power is in the hands of the community, not a select few.
