The Open Voice Network Interoperability and TrustMark projects are incubation projects within the non-profit, vendor-neutral Linux Foundation AI & Data Foundation.

The mission of LF AI & Data is to build and support an open artificial intelligence (AI) and data community, and drive open source innovation in the AI and data domains by enabling collaboration and the creation of new opportunities for all the members of the community. Learn more at https://lfaidata.foundation/.

Technologists, industry practitioners, academic researchers, and ethicists come together from around the world to pursue the aims of the Open Voice Network: to build the open, standards-based, interoperable, and trustworthy future of voice / Conversational AI.

What this means to you: a level playing field, with unfettered access to constituents and new markets. Efficiency in development and delivery: build and maintain once, with use everywhere. Accelerated innovation: standard building blocks allow investment in differentiation. A confidence in the data behavior of others.

Open Voice Network projects are guided by four ideals. We seek a world in which conversational AI technology

is worthy of user trust

enables user, ecosystem, and architectural choice

is inclusive and accessible

is open in software and hardware, with standards serving as a foundation for commercial differentiation.

History

The Open Voice Network Interoperability and TrustMark Initiative projects joined the prestigious Linux Foundation AI & Data Foundation with incubation status on November 1, 2023.

Previously, the projects were part of the Open Voice Network, a much smaller, independent Linux Foundation community, which grew from 2016-2018 collaborative research by the Auto-ID Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Capgemini Consulting, and the Intel Corporation, and was founded in June 2020.

As part of the LF AI & Data Foundation, the Open Voice Network Interoperability and TrustMark Initiative projects will enjoy collaboration opportunities with numerous existing and in-development LF AI & Data projects in areas of natural language processing, data privacy and security, trustworthy AI, and the new LF AI & Data Generative AI Commons. The Open Voice Network projects also have access to the shared legal, operational, and marketing services of the LF AI & Data Foundation.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is dedicated to building sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation provides unparalleled support for open source communities through financial and intellectual resources, infrastructure, services, events, and training. Working together, the Linux Foundation and its projects form the most ambitious and successful investment in the creation of shared technology.

Please visit the Linux Foundation website for more information.

The LF AI & Data Foundation supports and sustains open source projects within artificial intelligence (AI) and the data space. You can think of us as a greenhouse growing and sustaining open source AI and data projects from seed to fruition. We provide support to projects for open development among a diverse and thriving community, in addition to a number of enabling services that include membership and funding management, ecosystem development, legal support, PR/marketing/communication, events support, trademark management, export control filings, and compliance scans.

What do we value

A Shared Vision & Mission Among The Many

Vision

The Open Voice Network Interoperability and TrustMark Initiative projects seeks to make voice / Conversational AI work like the web – open, standards-based, unfettered – and for voice / Conversational AI to be worthy of user trust.

Mission

The Open Voice Network projects will achieve their vision through the communal development and adoption of industry standards and usage guidelines, industry education and advocacy initiatives, and the development and documentation of voice-centric value propositions.

Leadership

Meet the Team

Helping to reconcile users and voice technology needs for the future

In a world where voice is out of favor with privacy advocates, we are building ethical guidelines, open source standards, and technical solutions that close this gap. Meet our leadership team below, and click on each member’s name to learn more about their background.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ibrahim Haddad

Ibrahim Haddad (Ph.D.) is the General Manager of the LF AI & Data Foundation. His work, and the work of the Foundation as a whole, support companies, developers, and the open source community in identifying and contributing to the technological projects that address the challenges of industry for the benefit of all participants. He is the creator and maintainer of the Open Source AI & Data landscape, an industry reference to critical open source AI and Data projects. Prior to the LF AI & Data, Haddad served as Vice President of R&D and Head of the Open Source Division at Samsung Electronics. Throughout his career, Haddad has held several technology and portfolio management roles at Ericsson Research, the Open Source Development Lab, Motorola, Palm, Hewlett-Packard and the Linux Foundation. He graduated with Honors from Concordia University (Montréal, Canada) with a Ph.D. in Computer Science, where he was awarded the J. W. McConnell Memorial Graduate Fellowship and the Concordia University 25th Anniversary Fellowship.

Oita Coleman

Project Leader, TrustMark Initiative

Dr. Deborah Dahl

Project Leader, Interoperability

Dr. Jim Larson

Senior Advisor

Nathan Southern

Project Manager, The Linux Foundation

The Open Voice Network Technical Committee

Our group of informed advisors, subject matter experts, and stakeholders provide a vast wealth of input on business, financial, operational, and technical matters. Steering Committee members all share in our mission, vision, and values of a future where open-source voice technology delivers the value businesses seek while offering the protections users demand. We strive to seek diverse personalities, voices, opinions, and cultural interests across our Steering Committee to ensure that all relevant topics are heard and addressed in our important work. With a rapidly growing base of friends, contributors, and members this group helps us continuously weigh what’s important and keep on track to our desired results. To learn how to join our Steering Committee, become a sponsor of our work, share your opinions on voice assistance technologies, or become a friend of the Open Voice Network please visit our Contact Us or Friends page.