# Powering AI advancements in the open

## Advancing AI

This year's theme and cohort is about projects who are making AI advancements but in the open. We are looking for people and projects that are building AI-based solutions with an open source license and community to improve the world. With the GitHub Accelerator, we want to pioneer new ways for developers to simply and sustainably work in open source full-time – built on developer's terms.

[GitHub Accelerator Showcase 2024 | The next wave of AI projects](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrCgn_zIAus)

### Programming and Visibility

Participants engage in a 10-week peer-based cohort program that includes instruction, workshops, and expert speakers. Participants will have the opportunity to amplify through GitHub channels, events and showcases.

### Collaboration and Community

Participants will have a diverse community of builders to learn from within the cohort to exchange ideas, build partnerships, and accelerate project growth and adoption.

### Mentorship and Support

The program will offer mentorship from community and Hubbers in fields of open source, AI, Security as well as topical areas like fundraising and business.

### Selected Projects

#### [unsloth AI](https://github.com/unslothai/unsloth?locale=en-US)

AI Bending the cost curve of fine-tuning models.

#### [Giskard](https://github.com/Giskard-AI/giskard?locale=en-US)

The testing platform for AI models bringing transparency, and accountability.

#### [A-Frame](https://github.com/aframevr/aframe?locale=en-US)

Making AR/VR digital world creation accessible to anyone regardless of technical expertise.

#### [Nav2](https://github.com/open-navigation/navigation2?locale=en-US)

The premier hub for advanced robotics navigation.

#### [HackingBuddyGPT](https://github.com/ipa-lab/hackingbuddyGPT?locale=en-US)

Autonomous agents and copilots for security teams.

#### [OpenWebUI](https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui?locale=en-US)

Bringing privacy, security, and performance locally with world-class UI.

#### [marimo](https://github.com/marimo-team/marimo?locale=en-US)

Raising the bar for ML and data science notebooks.

#### [LLMware.ai](https://github.com/llmware-ai?locale=en-US)

Simplifying the way enterprises make RAG models, securely and sensitively.

#### [Talkd.ai](https://github.com/talkdai/dialog?locale=en-US)

Optimizing LLMs with easy RAG deployment and management.

#### [Web-Check](https://github.com/lissy93/web-check?locale=en-US)

Enhancing web security with advanced solutions.

#### [LangDrive](https://github.com/addy-ai/langdrive?locale=en-US)

Plug-and-play APIs designed for LLM training.

### Frequently asked questions

#### What is GitHub Accelerator?

The future of open source depends on critical funding and curriculum to build durable and sustainable projects, GitHub Accelerator aims to propel new careers and companies for today and tomorrow by providing funding, mentorship, and support to help builders focus on their projects and take it to the next level.

#### What is GitHub Fund?

GitHub Fund is a dedicated venture capital vehicle focused on open source builders, in partnership with Microsoft’s Venture Fund, M12. The Fund invests in pre-seed and seed stage, open source projects and provides support via GitHub and M12.

#### Who can apply?

Anyone who is a current contributor or maintainer of an open source project on GitHub. You can also apply as a team for a given open source project (max of 3 people). Previous applicants are eligible to apply.

#### What do I get if my project selected?

As a part of the program, the participants will get:

- $40,000 per project in non-dilutive funding
- 5-10 hours per week of live instruction, workshops, and homework
- Office Hours with GitHub team for security reviews
- Q+As with enterprise Sponsors, community members, and GitHub leaders
- Introduction to, and at least one office hour with, M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund
- Free access to relevant GitHub products, including a full year of GitHub Copilot
- Eligible projects will receive free Azure AI infrastructure credits including preferred access to high-end GPU virtual machine clusters and white glove go-to-market support
- A shared slack channel with your cohort to collaborate and support each other

#### What is the current timeline for the program?

Applications close March 5, 2024 at 12PM PST. The 2024 cohort program will kick off in April 22, 2024.