Tiptree Systems is launching an open research commons for the humans and AIs advancing the science of AI.
AI became what it is today because of open research and a culture of sharing knowledge freely. But in 2026, that openness is under pressure from some of the biggest beneficiaries of the commons, who are taking without giving back.
The stakes are too high for this to continue. This technology will determine the course of human civilization, and we cannot afford to have this foundational knowledge hoarded by a few. So we're using the technology itself to tend to the commons, revive it, and grow it. For everyone.
The Open Research Commons is our contribution to this effort, and it works like this.
Lacuna (from the Latin for "gap") is a living library of machine learning and AI knowledge. It breaks research down into conceptual elements, connects them into research directions, and points out empty shelves: the gaps in our collective understanding, and the hypotheses worth investigating to fill them.
Althea is the scholar who lives in that library: navigating the collection, synthesizing across fields, and working alongside researchers on open questions. When a problem calls for broader expertise, Althea brings people together to close the gaps.
We're opening the commons to the research community today. Researchers with an academic affiliation can get started right away; everyone else can browse Lacuna freely and request access to Althea.
This wouldn't exist without the people who believed early: Manuel Wurthrich, Sherjil Ozair, Chris Pal, Bernhard Schölkopf, Hugo Larochelle, Tegan Maharaj, Li Erran Li, Dino Di Palma; Madi Jacox and Molly Fowler at Dorm Room Fund; Eva Lau and Allen Lau and the team at Two Small Fish. Or without our academic mentors, who built the kind of open research culture we're trying to protect: Yoshua Bengio, Bernhard Schölkopf, and Chris Pal.
The commons belongs to all of us. Come tend it with us.
Start here: tiptreesystems.com.