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What Is the LF AI & Data Foundation? The 2020 Combination Explained

The LF AI & Data Foundation began as a 2020 combination of the LF AI Foundation and ODPi. Here’s what was announced, what it aimed to do, and how it describes its ecosystem today.

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The LF AI & Data Foundation was announced on October 26, 2020, when the Linux Foundation said its LF AI Foundation and ODPi communities would come together under one organization. The stated goal was to bring open-source AI and data projects into a shared umbrella and encourage collaboration and interoperability—not to announce a new AI product or prove that those benefits had already been achieved.

What combined to form the LF AI & Data Foundation?

The Linux Foundation’s October 26, 2020 announcement described LF AI as an ecosystem for open-source artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning. ODPi, in turn, focused on accelerating an open ecosystem for big-data solutions. The two organizations announced that they would combine under the LF AI & Data Foundation. The Linux Foundation’s announcement, distributed by PR Newswire, framed the new organization as a home for AI, data, and analytics projects.

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The headline’s “fastest-growing” phrase was promotional framing in the announcement. The cited release does not establish an independently measured industry ranking or comparative growth rate.

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Why did the organizations say they were combining?

The announcement’s rationale was to put open AI and data communities under one umbrella, encourage closer collaboration, and make integration and interoperability easier across hosted projects. Those were aims and expectations expressed at formation, not independent findings that the outcomes had been achieved.

Dr. Ibrahim Haddad, then LF AI Executive Director, said the combination was a “natural move” to bring open AI and data communities together and enable better interoperability and closer collaboration. That is Haddad’s characterization of the motivation and expected benefits in the 2020 announcement, rather than an independent assessment of impact.

Which projects and groups were named in the announcement?

The 2020 release said ODPi projects Egeria and OpenDS4All would become hosted projects under the new foundation. It also said BI and AI would become a committee. The planned structure included a Technical Advisory Council and committees, including Trusted AI and BI & AI; the announcement said projects would retain open technical governance and collaborate with other hosted projects.

These details describe what was announced in 2020, not necessarily every project’s current hosting status. For current listings and descriptions, consult the LF AI & Data project directory.

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What does the foundation do today?

The LF AI & Data Foundation currently describes itself as a Linux Foundation umbrella organization supporting open-source innovation in AI and data. Its official overview says it builds and supports an open community and provides services intended to help projects, including membership and funding management, ecosystem development, legal support, communications, events, trademark management, export-control filings, and compliance scans.

Its project directory spans areas such as AI, machine learning, data management, and infrastructure. Examples listed there include Egeria, OPEA, OpenBytes, Horovod, Kedro, JanusGraph, Kompute, and LakeSoul. Project descriptions and hosting status can change, so use the live directory for the current details rather than treating the launch announcement as a current catalog.

How large is the foundation’s ecosystem?

When accessed in 2026, the foundation homepage displayed these self-reported figures. The site did not provide a measurement date for each counter, and the figures are not presented here as independently audited statistics.

Homepage figure What the site displayed
Projects 67
Lines of code 200M+
Commits 331K+
Contributing organizations 2,920+
Contributors 100K
Technical working groups 9

The same 2020 announcement reported 22 projects, more than 60 companies, 20 universities, and more than 1,300 active developers in the combined foundation; it also said LF AI then had 25 members and 20 technical projects. Those launch-era figures and the current homepage counters use different categories and lack aligned measurement dates, so they should not be treated as a like-for-like growth comparison.

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How can organizations participate?

The foundation’s membership page says corporate members of LF AI & Data must also be corporate members of The Linux Foundation and outlines organizational membership levels and participation benefits. Membership conditions and details can change; organizations considering membership should check that live page. This is organizational participation, not a consumer product sign-up.

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