Press Release - IPIE Awarded Omidyar Network Grant to Advance AI Research and Innovation

September 15, 2025 – Zürich, Switzerland – The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Omidyar Network to support its pioneering work on the societal impacts of artificial intelligence.

The grant will fund three expert panels convened by the IPIE to explore critical issues at the intersection of AI, science, and policy:

• Scientific Panel on AI and Economic Inclusion: analyzing how AI affects access to markets, human rights, and consumer rights.

• Foresight Panel on AI and the Scientific Method: piloting a global, AI-enabled consensus-building mechanism around emerging areas of scientific agreement.

• Foresight Panel on Policy Impact of Neurotechnology: developing actionable policy recommendations to help societies anticipate risk and maximize the benefits of advances at the frontier of data-neuron technologies.

This generous support from Omidyar Network will allow us to convene global expertise and build the evidence base policymakers need to make informed decisions about cutting-edge technologies certain to have a significant impact on our society.

Prof. Sebastian Valenzuela, the IPIE’s Chief Science Officer, said:

The IPIE was built to translate frontier science into policy guidance. With this support, we can sharpen that role at a moment when emerging technologies are reshaping economies and rights worldwide.

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Wafa Ben-Hassine, Director of Programs and Policy at Omidyar Network, said:

In an era when technology and AI shapes public trust and civic life, the International Panel on the Information Environment's scientific rigor will bring clarity, evidence, and insight to one of the most defining challenges of our time: navigating a digital information environment as a public good.

This grant runs through December 2026 and underscores Omidyar Network’s commitment to strengthening the information environment through innovative research and global collaboration.

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ENDS

Further details about the IPIE can be found at www.IPIE.info.

For media inquiries, interviews, or more information, please contact Press@IPIE.info.  

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About the IPIE

The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) is an independent and global science organization providing scientific knowledge about the health of the world's information environment. Based in Switzerland, the IPIE offers policymakers, industry, and civil society actionable scientific assessments about threats to the information environment, including AI bias, algorithmic manipulation, and disinformation. The IPIE is the only scientific body systematically organizing, evaluating, and elevating research with the broad aim of improving the global information environment. Hundreds of researchers worldwide contribute to the IPIE's reports.

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