MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Provost Cynthia Barnhart launched a call for papers last summer relating to generative AI, with the aim of collecting effective strategies, policy suggestions, and calls to action in this expansive field. The response was overwhelming, with a total submission of 75 proposals, out of which 27 were chosen for seed funding. Due to this massive response, a second call for proposals was made in autumn.
The follow-up call led to 53 proposals being submitted. After a review, a faculty committee selected 16 of these proposals to receive further funding. These chosen proposals were created by interdisciplinary teams of scholars and researchers associated with MIT’s five schools and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. They present differing insights and perspectives on the implications and potential applications of generative AI, covering a diverse array of subjects and disciplines.
Each chosen research team will be granted a fund ranging from $50,000 to $70,000 for the creation of 10-page impact papers. These papers will then be disseminated extensively through a platform overseen and hosted by the MIT Press, which falls under the MIT Open Publishing Services program.
Financial support for these initiatives has been contributed by Thomas Tull, a member of the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and a former innovation scholar.
The selected papers explore numerous themes concerning generative AI, such as privacy, AI in art, biomedical applications, support for the aging population, promoting civic engagement, improving human interactions, and many more. Each of these researches is led by various experts, ranging from Alex Pentland, Srini Devadas, Lalana Kagal, Vinod Vaikuntanathan to Caroline Jones and Huma Gupta.
The significant interest in these calls for proposals reflects the importance and potential of generative AI as an influential sphere in the modern world. MIT’s commitment to funding and publishing these researches shows their dedication to advancing in this field and promoting global understanding of the varied applications and repercussions of AI.
