In response to their call for papers last summer, MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Provost Cynthia Barnhart received an overwhelming interest from the research community. The call for proposals was made to “articulate effective roadmaps, policy recommendations, and calls for action across the broad domain of generative AI.” The response far exceeded expectations, with 75 proposals submitted, of which 27 received seed funding.
The popularity of the first call led to a second request for proposals this fall, which resulted in 53 additional submissions. Sixteen of these new proposals were selected by the faculty committee for exploratory funding. These proposals are the result of interdisciplinary collaborations of faculty and researchers from all five schools of the Institute and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.
The selected research groups will each receive between $50,000 and $70,000 to produce a comprehensive 10-page impact paper, providing insights on the implications and applications of generative AI over a variety of topics and fields. The completed papers will be published and promoted by the MIT Press under the MIT Open Publishing Services program.
These initiatives received financial backing from Thomas Tull, a member of the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and a former innovation scholar at the School of Engineering.
The chosen proposals cover a broad range of topics including how generative AI impacts privacy, value of AI-generated art, AI’s role in the creative economy, and its implications for the aging population. Other topics include AI’s potential to boost human interactions, AI’s expansion as an applications platform, its application in civic engagement, textile engineering, biomedical innovation, live music performances, and visual arts, among other fields.
With each round of calls, the Institute reinforces its commitment to generating productive conversations and creating insightful roadmaps in the fast-evolving field of generative artificial intelligence. The breadth of the selected proposals underscores the diverse applicability of AI in shaping and improving various aspects of society and industry.
