May 23, 2025
Trustworthy AI Data Communities (AI-DCs) : Unlocking the benefits of AI for all, using U.S. manufacturing as a case study
Latanya Sweeney, Leonie Beyrle Barker, and Joshua Shank

This paper introduces the AI Data Community—a privacy-preserving ecosystem that empowers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to securely share data and collaboratively develop AI-driven solutions. (Diagram: courtesy of the Purdue ManuFuture Today team.)
- The AI Data Community (AI-DC) is a novel framework that enables small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to safely participate in various data commons configurations and co-develop AI tools, overcoming limits in data access, expertise, and privacy.
- Built on the MyDataCan privacy infrastructure, AI-DCs let SMEs control and combine their data using integrated privacy-preserving technologies while enabling collective analytics.
- Standard data commons models are enhanced when executed within an AI-DC, offering consortium benefits like cost-sharing (in SaaS and DaaS), revenue opportunities (via Data Brokers), and safe participation in open innovation efforts (like Grand Challenges), while solving traditional limitations related to privacy, and scalability.