In response to a call for proposals issued by MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Provost Cynthia Barnhart that aimed at outlining efficient strategies, policies, and actions in the field of generative AI, the university received 75 submissions last summer. 27 of those submissions were selected for seed funding due to their exceptional potency. After such a vigorous response, a second call for proposals was made later that fall, yielding 53 submissions.
In selection, a faculty committee from the first round assessed the new proposals and chose 16 to receive exploratory funding. Authored by collaborative teams of faculty and researchers affiliated with all five schools of the Institute and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, the selected proposals encompassed an array of topics and disciplines, offering profound insights and perspectives on the potential effects and applications of generative AI.
Each chosen research group is set to receive between $50,000 and $70,000 to create 10-page impact papers. Once completed, these papers will be disseminated broadly through a publication venue run and hosted by the MIT Press under the MIT Open Publishing Services program.
Notably, Thomas Tull, a member of the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and a former innovation scholar at the School of Engineering, made a financial contribution to facilitate the effort involved in the second round of papers.
From examining privacy in generative AI to understanding its impact on the creative economy, the papers represent a wide range of topics. They explore subjects such as the role of generative AI in live music performances, the idea of AI-generated art, and the way this groundbreaking technology can support the aging population. Other papers address the potential of generative AI in cities, physical sciences, textile engineering, biomedical innovations, drug discovery, and language science, amongst other areas.
This endeavor clearly brings to light the many possibilities of generative AI and will reshaping how AI is viewed, developed, and employed across different sectors. Promoting such collaboration further intensifies the ongoing research in the realm of AI, thereby, creating more opportunities for knowledge and innovation.
