Automating open source: How Ersilia distributes AI models to advance global health equity

The nonprofit Ersilia Open Source Initiative, through its Ersilia Model Hub, aims to increase access to AI/ML models for drug discovery research in low and middle-income countries. The hub hosts and disseminates computational models publicly on GitHub repositories to be used by under-resourced researchers for free. While most contributors are data scientists and software developers, the models are being utilized by institutions in various countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Ersilia's primary partner is the University of Cape Town's Holistic Drug Discovery and Development Centre, which uses the hub's tools for innovative drug discovery. Ersilia is also involved with the fledgling University of Buea’s Center for Drug Discovery in Cameroon. The majority of models are open source, and all are publicly available.