Background

The Inference Cooperative exists to give people a real alternative for AI: a service owned and directed by the people who use it, rather than rented from an extractive industry. Members pay dues on a sliding scale and receive private AI chat and API access through infrastructure the members govern together.

We are a small cooperative by design, fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit Metagov and managing member dues on Open Collective. For how to join and use it, see Getting started; for our governance model, see the Charter.

How we got here

The cooperative launched in September 2026, growing out of research on democratic digital infrastructure through Metagov's Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention.

It began with a single privacy-first provider and a deliberately small toolset: a chat, an API gateway, and the basics for membership and payments. From there it grew the way co-ops do: in response to what members asked for. A member dashboard made usage and spending transparent. A federated Matrix server, a forum, and a newsletter gave members places to talk to each other and to the project. The code that runs the member-facing services is available in public repositories.

In October 2026, members adopted the co-op's first charter — a democratic constitution setting out values, roles, and decision-making, with a commitment to redesign governance as the community grows past 250 members.

Where we're going

The near-term road: more model choices with strong privacy and environmental records, infrastructure hosted with values-aligned providers, and the working-group structure the charter describes. The longer arc: proving that people can govern their AI the way they govern a credit union or a land trust — and sharing what we learn with the co-ops that come after us.