The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced its plan to fund 16 research proposals dedicated to exploring the potential of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). The funding process began last summer when MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Provost Cynthia Barnhart invited research papers that could provide robust policy guidelines, efficient roadmaps, and calls to action in the broader domain of generative AI. They were overwhelmed by 75 submitted proposals, of which 27 were chosen to receive initial funding.
Following the enthusiasm received during the first call, a second call was announced this fall to solicit another round of proposals. In this round, 53 submissions were received. Of these, 16 were selected by the faculty committee from the first round to receive supplementary research funding. These exploratory funding research proposals were left entirely up to the expertise of interdisciplinary teams of researchers and faculty members from all five schools comprising the Institute and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.
The selected research groups are eligible for an award between $50,000 and $70,000 to generate a 10-page impact paper. These papers will later be disseminated to a wider audience through a publication avenue managed by the MIT Press, under the auspices of the MIT Open Publishing Services program.
The ambitious project also achieved a financial boost from Thomas Tull, a member of the MIT School of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council. The call welcomed multiple themes covering potential impacts and applications of generative AI across diverse disciplines and domains such as privacy, physical sciences, visual intelligence, human-to-human interactions, urban planning, biomedical innovation, etc.
Some of the papers selected include “A Road-map for End-to-end Privacy and Verifiability in Generative AI” by Alex Pentland and team, “Artificial Fictions and the Value of AI-Generated Art” by Justin Khoo, “Generative AI for Cities: A Civic Engagement Playbook” by Sarah Williams, Sara Beery, and Eden Medina, and “Supporting the Aging Population with Generative AI” by Pattie Maes, among others.
