Behind the AI

Who funds, controls, and profits from the AI tools you use every day? Independent assessments. No corporate sponsors. Plain language.

Take Action

The data is only useful if you can act on it. Tools for individuals, procurement teams, journalists, and policymakers.

For Individuals

Learn more about the environmental and human costs of AI.

Check the energy efficiency of 166+ AI models before choosing your tools.

The definitive investigative account of the AI industry. 260+ interviews. Penguin Press 2025.

Key researchers to follow

Sasha Luccioni (Hugging Face, AI environmental impact), Timnit Gebru (DAIR Institute, AI ethics), Joy Buolamwini (Algorithmic Justice League, AI bias), Meredith Whittaker (AI Now Institute, AI governance).

For Procurement Teams

Tools to evaluate AI vendors against environmental and ethical standards.

Questions to ask vendors about energy, labor, ethics, and environmental impact. Modeled on Hugging Face enterprise procurement templates.

Best regions, model hierarchy, and carbon optimization tools for Azure deployments.

One-page checklist: Who labeled your training data? Do subcontractors provide mental health support? Will you publish a labor supply chain audit?

For Journalists & Researchers

Resources for investigating AI companies and their impact.

Template for requesting local water and energy usage data from data center operators via Freedom of Information requests.

Use the Embed button on any leaderboard table to get an iframe snippet for your publication.

Up to $20K for journalists investigating AI accountability.

Up to $300K per project for trustworthy AI initiatives.

For Policymakers

Regulatory context and tools for AI governance.

Enforcement begins August 2, 2026. Requires foundation model providers to disclose training data, energy consumption, and capabilities.

73 new state AI laws in 2025. Comprehensive tracker of state-level AI regulation.

Model template for requiring AI companies to disclose environmental, labor, and safety data.

Organizations Directory

The AI accountability ecosystem. These organizations are doing the work.

For Companies We Track

If your company is assessed on Behind the AI, you can submit corrections, official statements, or updated environmental data. All submissions are reviewed, timestamped, and published publicly alongside our assessments.

Disclaimer

Assessments reflect publicly available information and the published methodology of the Behind the AI Research Team. Grades represent analytical assessments derived from the published scoring framework, not statements of fact about internal company operations. If you believe any claim is inaccurate, contact corrections@behindtheai.org with the specific claim and your evidence.