Artificial intelligence has become a critical infrastructure concentrated in the hands of just a few large global corporations—the so-called “tech oligarchy”. But now, ESSIA offers a specific, alternative response: providing the SSE with a technology of its own, one that’s safe and aligns with its values.
A cooperative technological model with real operational capacity
Kloosiv, specialized in technology applied to social inclusion, and Relab Studio, focused on the design of advanced technological projects and which has spent the past year building advanced AI prototypes within the RETECH AI program, join forces with a democratizing ambition to build a model of technological innovation rooted in ethics, security, and real social transformation.
This agreement formalizes a key strategic step: for the first time, the cooperative ecosystem has a technological infrastructure of its own in a field as sensitive and decisive as AI. The acquisition of the necessary hardware and the start of the project’s activity represent a firm commitment to building technological tools that are local, secure, and oriented towards the common good.
Data sovereignty: if the SSE isn’t in the data, it’s invisible to AI
One of ESSIA’s central pillars is the sovereignty of data from the social economy. This is addressed in two complementary dimensions: first, the protection of the data of users and organizations, guaranteeing privacy, security, and ethical use. Second, the project seeks to build datasets that are governed collectively and that reflect the realities and values of the SSE: data focused on individuals, communities and their vulnerabilities, and that don’t reproduce extractive or speculative logic. The idea is clear: if the social economy isn’t represented in the data, it’s invisible to AI models. As a result, structural inequalities may not only be reproduced, but amplified. ESSIA wants to break with the biases of big tech and lay the foundations for an AI that knows, recognizes, and serves the Social and Solidarity Economy.