## Howso Unveils Brand New Open-Source Project at ATO 2023

### Josh Cadorette

November 15, 2023

Celebrating Howso’s open source project to make trustworthy AI accessible to all.

This past October, the Howso team celebrated its open source launch at the [**All Things Open (ATO)**](https://2023.allthingsopen.org/) conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Team members near and far gathered to spread the word about [**Howso Engine**](https://www.howso.com/engine/), the world’s first open source Understandable AI® engine. Rather than facilitating a traditional conference booth, the Howso team set up an “open concept” demo lab where attendees could check out the [**open source project on Github**](https://github.com/howsoai), interact with the **[Howso playground](https://playground.howso.com/)**, and hear about our work to “Open the box.”

What exactly does “Open the box” mean? Humanity is making critical decisions with black box AI which is prone to hallucinations, bias, and opacity. Black box models were never designed to be understandable, auditable, or trusted. It is time to “open the box,” or to build open source, high-powered, trustworthy AI so we can make human critical decisions with transparent tools.

[**Click here to open the box**](https://github.com/howsoai)

With Howso, that’s possible. We’re an alternative to black box. Our open source Engine was designed to be natively explainable, transparent and trusted. We ensure that every prediction provides exact attribution back to the input data. The result? Completely auditable and trustworthy AI for predictions that matter like mortgage approvals, parole hearings, or employment decisions.

At the conference, ATO attendees were incredibly excited to hear about Howso’s work. Folks came up to the interactive booth and shared both their hopes and their fears about how AI might change our society. They had the chance to get their hands on both the open source project on Github as well as walk through scenarios in the Howso Playground, a tool that shows people with little to no data science background how Engine works.

[**Check out Howso Playground**](https://playground.howso.com/)

In addition to the interactions at the demo lab, attendees had a chance to engage with Howso co-founder and CTO Chris Hazard. Chris delivered two talks at ATO: 1. “Most ‘Open Source’ AI Isn’t. And What We Can Do About That.” 2. “Are Privacy and Intellectual Property Still Relevant? Perspectives From History, Biology, Math, and, of Course, AI.” The ATO conference team recorded and published the second talk on privacy and IP, which you can find below.

Are Privacy and Intellectual Property Still Relevant? Perspectives From History, Biology, Math, & AI - YouTube

[Are Privacy and Intellectual Property Still Relevant? Perspectives From History, Biology, Math, & AI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs-uRORROho)

The team closed out the 3-day conference energized to continue to advance the Howso mission of making trustworthy AI the global standard. We look forward to seeing some of the friends we made at ATO at conferences down the line.

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# The Importance of Open Source AI in Decision Making

At the ATO 2023 conference, Howso unveiled its brand new open-source project aimed at revolutionizing the way critical decisions are made. By introducing transparent and auditable AI models, Howso is striving to "open the box" and bring trustworthiness to decision-making processes such as mortgage approvals and employment decisions.

This shift towards open source AI is crucial in addressing issues of bias, opacity, and lack of understanding in current black box AI models. By leveraging open source technology, Howso is paving the way for a more transparent and accountable future in decision-making.

### Exploring the Howso Playground and Github Repository

Attendees at the ATO conference had the opportunity to interact with the Howso Playground and explore the open-source project on Github. This hands-on experience allowed participants to see firsthand the power of transparent and auditable AI models in action.

The Howso team's decision to set up an "open concept" demo lab at the conference reflects their commitment to educating and engaging the community in the importance of open source AI. By making their project accessible and interactive, Howso is empowering others to join the movement towards trustworthy decision-making tools.