Project Liberty Institute

AI provides a new infrastructure for thought. The question isn’t whether it will reshape our world — it’s whether the results will advance human agency and human flourishing. The Project Liberty Institute exists to make sure that it does.”
Tomicah Tillemann, President, Project Liberty Institute

The Project Liberty Institute is an independent 501(c)(3) at the center of the global effort to build an open, pro-human AI ecosystem. We bring together technologists, researchers, policymakers, investors, and civic leaders to ensure that people have a voice, choice, and stake in the future of AI.

Our work spans three areas: building open technology infrastructure that puts people in control of their data and digital identity, advancing policy frameworks that align legal code with technical architecture, and generating the research and models that prove pro-human AI can be technically excellent and commercially competitive.

What We’re Building

Open Infrastructure for the AI ERA

The Institute stewards the foundational technology layer of the pro-human AI ecosystem — open protocols and standards designed to prevent any single company or government from controlling the infrastructure that billions of people will depend on.

A cornerstone of this effort is the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which establishes a shared social layer no longer dependent on a specific application or centralized platform. DSNP already secures data for millions of users and is expanding to support new frameworks for human-AI interaction that provide a foundation for how people interact with AI models while retaining control over their data.

Policy and Governance

Technology alone won’t redirect AI toward human flourishing. The Institute develops and advances policy frameworks that hardwire data sovereignty, transparency, interoperability, and democratic accountability into AI systems.

This work is already producing results. The Digital Choice Act — landmark legislation establishing data portability and interoperability requirements — has been enacted in Utah and South Dakota, with Virginia’s version extending these principles explicitly to AI. Similar legislation is advancing across multiple additional states and jurisdictions worldwide.

Internationally, we work with partner governments to develop shared procurement standards and interoperability benchmarks, creating the coordinated market demand that drives private investment in open, pro-human AI solutions.

RESEARCH AND INSIGHTS

The Institute conducts and commissions research to build the evidence base for a pro-human AI economy — generating new models for digital governance, data stewardship, and pro-human business design. Our research is conducted independently by world-class partner institutions and is made publicly available, ensuring transparency and strengthening the shared knowledge base.

Featured Work

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Towards a Responsible Decentralized Ecosystem: Unveiling Project Liberty Institute and Blockchaingov’s Blockchain Governance Toolkit

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Responsible technology: A path towards an ethical innovation ecosystem

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Our Network

The Institute anchors a growing global coalition of academic institutions, governments, technology organizations, and civil society partners united by the conviction that AI should expand what is possible for people — not extract from them.

Academic Partners

We collaborate with leading research institutions worldwide, including Georgetown University, Stanford, ETH Zurich, MIT, Harvard and others — funding and publishing independent scholarship on digital governance, AI safety, and open technology architecture.

Coalition partners

Our work is supported by and conducted in partnership with pioneering organizations, including members of the Project Liberty Alliance.