The Linux Foundation introduced a new project Monday called the Acumos Project, an effort backed by AT&T and India’s Tech Mahindra that will set up a common platform for artificial intelligence and machine learning development.

“With the Acumos platform, we’re working to create an industry standard for making AI applications and models reusable and easily accessible to any developer,” The Linux Foundation wrote in a blog post announcing the effort. AT&T and Tech Mahindra, a large IT consulting company based in Mumbai, will provide code for the initial phase of the project. It’s expected to launch early next year.

As the largest tech companies in the world race to develop game-changing artificial intelligence technology, others are working to make sure that those gains are spread equally across companies and developers who can’t afford to mount a direct challenge. The New York Times recently reported that AI superstars are getting “NFL money” from companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, offering salaries upwards of $500,000 and bonuses well into the millions.

It’s not just about money, though. Those companies also have enormous pools of data on which to train their learning models and free or heavily discounted access to massive amounts of computing power, and several years of experience designing tools and policies that allow them to move faster than companies just getting started with AI research.

At our GeekWire Summit earlier this month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella identified artificial intelligence as one of the three most important technologies that will shape the future of tech. Should that come to pass, there are lots of developers that will need easier access to AI expertise without having to go through years of training.

“AI tools today can be difficult to use and often are designed for data scientists. The Acumos platform will be user-centric, with an initial focus on creating apps and microservices,” The Linux Foundation wrote.

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