Hello Open Knowledge community,
The first results from our AI Learning Labs begin to take shape. From a fruitful roundtable on climate and responsible chatbots to a fresh partnership with the Government of Brazil, our community is tackling AI’s complexities while building tools that prioritise transparency, trust, and verifiability.
This month, we are also reflecting on a missed opportunity: the neurotech booth we had planned for RightsCon. Instead of letting that work go unseen, we’re sharing our concerns about consumer brain-computer interfaces, devices that collect our most intimate data with very few questions being asked about rights, governance, or accountability.
We are also thrilled to announce the Open Technology Research Symposium 2026 in Barcelona, alongside the release of the Sustainable Data Commons report.
We invite you to revisit OKFN’s participation in key discussions in the past month: the DPGA webinar on digital public goods against the “enshittification” of social technologies; Spain’s National Open Data Meeting on open data and entrepreneurship; and the very first International Conference on Digital Rights (also in Barcelona).
Keep up to date with our Network updates from around the world, too.
Enjoy the reading.
What We Learned About Climate and AI from Our First Roundtable
Last week, we kicked off our new AI Learning Labs initiative with an online roundtable discussion on the question: ‘How can we build a responsible climate chatbot?’
We covered a lot of ground in a wide-ranging conversation over two hours. While many of the reflections were specific to questions of climate, many also applied to responsible design, development and use of generative AI in general.
This text summarises the session highlights. You can also watch the full session recording on YouTube with automatically generated subtitles and join the conversation on our Forum.
“We are completely rethinking the way climate knowledge is shared and trusted in the age of AI.”
Gitanjali Yadav 🎥 Watch
“We recognise the dangers of AI if we don’t root that technology in the most reliable science.”
Matthew Pye 🎥 Watch
“We’ve all got big questions about AI. Our Learning Labs are trying to find some answers.”
Solana Larsen 🎥 Watch
Brazil and OKFN Partner to Enable Citizens to ‘Talk’ to National Data
As part of the AI Learning Labs initiative, OKFN is announcing a new collaboration with the Government of Brazil to make public data more accessible, trustworthy, and usable in the age of AI.
Together with the Office of the Comptroller General (CGU), we are developing a tool that will bring public data closer to citizens, allowing them to get data by simply asking a question. The technical solution we are prototyping uses a Model Context Protocol (MCP), a technical bridge that enables AI tools to connect directly to trusted data sources. In this pilot, citizens will be able to ‘talk’ to public data and receive AI-generated answers that are traceable to their data source, and accurate, transparent, and verifiable.
The pilot is taking place under the umbrella of the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) to become a reproducible and scalable solution with the potential to be shared broadly across institutions in Brazil and across the growing number of countries officially engaging with the alliance, and beyond.
The Neurotech Booth at RightsCon That Never Happened
by Burcu Kilic, Renata Ávila & Solana Larsen
OKFN was preparing a neurotech booth for RightsCon, the annual global gathering of digital rights defenders, which was cancelled at the last minute. Following this sad news, we decided to share our concerns about the new generation of sleek-looking devices: not enough of us are asking questions about such devices, the data they collect, or how rights are protected.
To demonstrate this point, we designed a hands-on (or actually, on-heads) experience for RightsCon attendees to interact with so-called “neurotech” or “non-invasive brain-computer interfaces,” also known as BCIs. This new category of consumer gadgets interact with different kinds of neural data, while promising an array of health and productivity benefits to buyers.
Our goal was to alert everyone that we are on the brink of a massive deployment of devices that aim to capture people’s most intimate data, and that we still know very little about them.
Announcing the Open Technology Research Symposium 2026 in Barcelona
We are thrilled to announce that the Call for Proposals of the inaugural “Open Technology Research (OTR) Symposium 2026 – Shaping the Open Transition” is now open until 5 July 2026. The Symposium is the flagship initiative of our new Open Technology Research initiative, together with our partners the Open Source Initiative (OSI), OpenForum Europe (OFE), and the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund (D//F).
This year’s Open Technology Research (OTR) Symposium moves from diagnosis to action: from mapping the landscape to charting the path forward. The event is both a stocktaking exercise and a forward-looking call to build a more united, evidence-based global research agenda – one that strengthens open technology’s role as a shared foundation for resilience and sovereignty, reinforces public interest governance, and mobilises research and evidence to drive collective action.
We hope you will join us from 26–27 October at the historic University of Barcelona as we translate evidence-based research into actionable policy.
Towards a Sustainable Data Commons Ecosystem: Report Release
We are glad to collaborate a case study on a collaborative research initiative led by IT for Change, with support from the Fair, Green and Global (FGG) Alliance and the Center for Global Digital Justice (CGDJ). In the recently released report, Dr Ana Méndez de Andés and Semra Sönmez explore how to shift the narrative about open data, so it centers more on community governance of data than on free access and use of data.
Based on 28 interviews with open data project leaders across four continents, the study highlights the current challenges and opportunities across the fields of local government data, open science, and open graphic design.
The Fortune of the Commons: Centering Communities in Data Production and Use
Read the Open Government Partnership (OGP)’s coverage of the report’s launch in an article published on the OGP Horizons platform.
How Digital Public Goods Can Help Overcome ‘Enshittification’ of Social Technologies
Last month, OKFN’s CEO, Renata Ávila, took part in the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) webinar: ‘Moving from Harmful Platforms to Social Technologies’, organised after a recent report by the Forbrukerrådet/Norwegian Consumer Council about the growing phenomenon of “enshittification” — where digital platforms degrade over time, impacting both users and society at large.
The session brought together expert panellists for an interactive discussion on how digital public goods and other open-source solutions can help scale a more transparent, interoperable, and accountable social technology landscape.
Spanish Civic Society Discusses Open Data and Entrepreneurship
In May, OKFN also took part in Spain’s National Open Data Meeting. Our Tech Lead, Patricio Del Boca, contributed to the discussion around open data and entrepreneurship in civic society, highlighting the many challenges faced by the sector, including a lack of funding for the critical infrastructure that supports the publication of open data, and the extractive nature of the industry: everyone uses data, but few people produce it and even fewer contribute to the communities.
A Key Forum for Promoting a Safe, Inclusive and People-centred Digitalisation
The First International Conference on Digital Rights in Barcelona was devoted to dialogue, reflection and the exchange of knowledge on the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital environment. Experts, institutions, companies and professionals, including the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN), shared perspectives and experiences against a backdrop characterised by AI, big data, disinformation, the digital divide and growing technological dependence.
Transnational Solidarity for a Green and Sustainable Technology Future
In Brussels, we joined over 180 activists, civil society representatives and thinkers from more than 30 countries at the European Green Academy 2026, organised by the Green European Foundation. Our CEO, Renata Ávila, delivered one of the opening speeches and participated in the plenary session entitled ‘System Reset: Technology for a Democratic Europe’. Throughout the workshops, plenaries, keynotes and numerous networking opportunities, a clear message emerged: the importance of establishing lasting alliances between green movements, civil society and other stakeholders, and equipping individuals with the knowledge, perspective and tools to take action.
Latin American Perspectives on AI Governance and Human Rights
As part of the Regional Course on AI and Human Rights for the public sector and the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, we also took part in Derechos Digitales and the Universidad de los Andes’ open webinar “Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights: Advancing Guarantees from Latin America”. The two-hour session brought together experts to critically examine AI’s human rights impacts in the region, highlighting gaps in global governance debates, analysing AI’s effects in Latin America, and exploring regional pathways to strengthen citizen protections amid technological deployment.
Tomorrow: Other Possible Technologies to Redefine Power at Every Level
If you’re in the Barcelona area, come to the Canòdrom to take part in the debates in the “Other Possible Technologies” event, a series of three international sessions on feminism, geopolitics and digital sovereignty. Tomorrow’s theme is “The Geopolitics of Technology: Systemic Transition, Technological Sovereignty and Democracy”, during which our CEO, Renata Ávila, will take part in the debate “Resistance to Digital Colonialism”.
These are the latest discussions on the Open Knowledge Forum. Have your say!
@jqnatividad on CKAN ↗
“This recent interview with Yoshua Bengio and his ‘Scientist AI’ approach is a must-watch”
@stephenabbottpugh on AI Learning Labs ↗
“In terms of sourcing high-quality open data, Climate TRACE offers very detailed open data about emissions from millions of asset locations across the world.”
@Solana on AI Learning Labs ↗
“I wish there had been more open data available from tech companies about their data centre and cloud service emissions!”
Check out the latest highlights from our global movement.
🇫🇮 Open Knowledge Finland, 🇸🇪 Open Knowledge Sweden and 🇪🇪 Open Knowledge Estonia have received network funding to build OK North, a Nordic collaboration network. The grant enables an in-person meetup at Oulu Löyly in June, with joint programming alongside Nordic Wiki communities. Registration for Oulu Löyly is open until the end of the month – welcome!
🇯🇵 Open Knowledge Japan is rebooting its activities and exploring projects beyond Open Data Day. One idea taking shape: co‑organising a talk event on the responsible use of AI, together with Creative Commons Japan. Stay tuned for more updates as the community regathers.
🇮🇹 In Italy, onData has achieved a major milestone: AgID, Italy’s Agency for Digital Italy, has officially adopted the CKAN MCP Server developed by them. The official launch is scheduled for June 15 – after that, anyone will be able to query Italy’s entire national open data catalog through natural language, using any MCP‑compatible AI tool.
🇬🇷 Open Knowledge Greece just started a new EU‑funded project (ECHOES ECCCH) on libraries and archives, together with the national libraries of Greece and Portugal. The project focuses on open and semantic data, with meetings in Germany and later in Athens, plus a hackathon. A new OKF Greece website is coming soon, and a second open call for more libraries and museums will follow. The work reuses the Wikidata platform and AI
🇳🇵 Open Knowledge Nepal wrapped up its Digital Roadmaps project, training 20 local micro‑entrepreneurs in Dhangadhi and providing hands‑on digital mentorship to 8 businesses. By the end of May, OKN will also disseminate findings from “When Algorithms Decide: Filtered Voices from Nepal”. Read more on their blog: Digital Roadmaps and Algorithms & Voices.
Save the dates!
Unthinking AI
Online
29 May
The Tierra Común collective is launching its two-part seminar series ‘Unthinking AI’. The aim is to collectively rethink strategies for the critical adoption of artificial intelligence tools from decolonial perspectives in Latin America, and to share participants’ research. The seminar forms part of the ‘Super-Comúnes contra Fachos’ programme.
The AI-BRIDGES Symposium
London
28–29 May
AI-based platforms are rapidly reshaping how knowledge is accessed, consumed, produced and reshared, often without drawing on the structured, open, and community-governed data that institutions and Open Knowledge communities have built over decades. The symposium brings together the people working to change this for two days of hands-on learning, expert dialogue and collaborative problem-solving.
Wikimania 2026
Paris
21–25 July
Wikimania is celebrating 25 years since the creation of Wikipedia. Yet the world has never been so dangerous for the free encyclopedia and its entire ecosystem. Wikimania 2026 is an opportunity to take action to preserve free access to knowledge.
About us.
Open knowledge is any content, information or data that people are free to use, re-use and redistribute — without any legal, technological or social restriction.
The Open Knowledge Foundation’s mission is to create a fair, sustainable and open digital future, advancing open knowledge as a design principle beyond just data. We do it by guiding and supporting the creation of digital infrastructure, developing policies and methodologies, harnessing communities and advocating for literacies and standards in a sustainable, ethical and agile manner.
