As the race toward artificial general intelligence accelerates, a fundamental question is emerging across the technology industry: who will control the infrastructure of intelligence?
While billions of dollars continue flowing into proprietary AI companies building increasingly closed ecosystems, Sentient Foundation is betting that the future of AI should remain open.
The nonprofit organization announced a $42 million Open Source AGI Grant and Investment Program, one of the largest funding commitments dedicated exclusively to open-source AGI development. The initiative will support developers, researchers, open-source maintainers, and startups building AI models, infrastructure, tools, and applications that remain accessible to the broader ecosystem.
The announcement reflects growing concern that AI development is becoming concentrated among a small number of companies that control access to advanced models, computing resources, and distribution channels.
“The future of intelligence should be built by the many, not controlled by the few,” said Sachi Kamiya, Director of Venture and Growth at Sentient Foundation. “A few companies are trying to become the OPEC of intelligence, deciding who gets access and at what price. We’re making it air.”
The new program combines non-dilutive grants with founder-friendly startup investments. Researchers, independent developers, and public-goods projects will be eligible for grants without giving up equity or ownership of their work, while startups building commercial businesses around open-source AI technologies can apply for investment capital designed to help them scale while maintaining openness as a core principle.
The move comes as open-source AI continues to gain momentum. Projects such as DeepSeek, Ollama, llama.cpp, and LeRobot have demonstrated that open ecosystems can produce technologies adopted by millions of users worldwide, often rivaling products developed by much larger organizations.
According to Sentient, applicants will not be required to open-source every component of their technology stack. Instead, projects must demonstrate that a meaningful part of their work remains openly available and contributes to broader ecosystem growth.
The Foundation says it will evaluate applicants based on technical merit, ecosystem impact, openness, and long-term potential. An advisory council composed of prominent members of the open-source AI community is also being assembled to help guide funding priorities.
Beyond financial support, the initiative represents a broader attempt to shape the future structure of the AI industry. Supporters of open-source AI argue that technological breakthroughs should not be controlled by a handful of corporations, pointing to the internet and open-source software as examples of ecosystems that created enormous economic value through shared innovation.
The program launches with backing from ecosystem participants including Alibaba Cloud, Franklin Templeton, Princeton University, and the Indian Institute of Science, with additional partners expected to join in the coming months.
The $42 million figure is a reference to Douglas Adams’ famous description of 42 as “the answer to life, the universe, and everything.” For Sentient, however, the more urgent question is who gets to build, access, and benefit from the next generation of intelligence.
As competition between open and closed AI ecosystems intensifies, the Foundation’s investment signals that the battle over AGI may be about more than technological capability. It may ultimately determine whether intelligence becomes a shared resource or a product controlled by a select few.
