The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S. is one of the birthplace for technologies and brilliant minds. And it has announced a plan to reshape its academic program with a $1 billion funding.
With the huge sum of money, considered the largest financial investment in AI by any U.S. academic institution to date, MIT wants to build a new college that combines AI, machine learning, and data science with other academic disciplines.
Two-thirds of the funds for the college have already been raised when the news first came. Out of the $1 billion funding required for the college, $350 million came from Stephen A. Schwarzman, the CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, a private equity company.
"Our hope is that this ambitious initiative serves as a clarion call to our government that massive financial investment in AI is necessary to ensure that America has a leading voice in shaping the future of these powerful and transformative technologies." Schwarzman said.
The priorities of the College include:
- Develop new curricula that will connect computer science and AI with other disciplines.
- Host forums to engage national leaders from business, government, academia, and journalism to examine the anticipated outcomes of advances in AI and machine learning, and to shape policies around the ethics of AI.
- Encourage scientists, engineers, and social scientists to collaborate on analysis of emerging technology, and on research that will serve industry, policymakers, and the broader research community.
- offer selective undergraduate research opportunities, graduate fellowships in ethics and AI, a seed-grant program for faculty, and a fellowship program to attract distinguished individuals from other universities, government, industry, and journalism.
According to Rafael Reif, the president of MIT, the approach was necessary because of the way computing, data, and AI are "reshaping the world." He added that students and researchers will be taught to use AI in their disciplines from the beginning, instead of dividing their time between computer science and other departments.
"Computing is no longer the domain of the experts alone," said Reif. "It’s everywhere, and it needs to be understood and mastered by almost everyone."
The function of the college is also meant to tackle issues concerning AI ethics. It is meant to encourage students and researchers to think about the impact of AI, as well as the potentials the technology may give.
Reif also said that the goal of the new college was to "educate the bilinguals of the future." He defined bilinguals as those people in fields like biology, chemistry, and political science who were also skilled in modern computing techniques applied to those subjects of study.
The funds to MIT is meant to create 50 new faculty positions and numerous fellowships for graduate students (25 to advance computing in the College, and 25 to be appointed jointly in the College and departments across MIT). The school is housed in existing buildings at MIT before moving to its own space.
This is another attempt by MIT to commit deeper into AI. Previously, the university announced a program called Quest for Intelligence, which is an initiative to make breakthroughs in AI by bringing together neuroscience, cognitive science and computer science researchers.