Last summer, MIT called upon the academic community to provide papers that suggest effective approaches and policy recommendations in the field of generative AI. Expectations were surpassed when 75 proposals were received. After reviewing these submissions, the institution funded 27 of the proposed projects.
During the fall, the response to a second call for proposals was almost as enthusiastic with 53 submissions received. Out of these, the faculty committee chose 16 for exploratory funding. Made up of interdisciplinary teams of faculty and researchers from all five of MIT’s schools and MIT’s Schwarzman College of Computing, the researchers behind these proposals have offered insights into potential impacts and applications of generative AI in a variety of disciplines and topics.
Each team of researchers that had their proposal selected will now receive between $50,000 and $70,000 to create a 10-page article that discusses the likely impact of their proposed work. The resultant articles are to be made widely available through a publication venue run and managed by MIT Press as part of the MIT Open Publishing Services periodical.
For both rounds of submissions, funding was provided by innovation scholar and member of the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, Thomas Tull. The selected papers cover a broad range of topics, from end-to-end privacy in generative AI and utilising AI in discovery in the physical sciences, to the impact of generative AI on the creative economy and the role of this technology in live music performances.
The subsequent research and development in generative AI at MIT not only highlights the significant investment and interest in this rapidly evolving field of technology, but it also underscores the broad spectrum of potential applications across multiple disciplines where generative AI can make meaningful contributions.
