CMU Gets $10 Million to Study Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
The grant from the K&L Gates law firm comes at a time of increasing concern about the impact of AI technologies.
photo by Cam Miller via Flickr creative commons
The capacity to use artificial intelligence for either good or evil is becoming on topic of hot debate. Carnegie Mellon University, a pioneer in AI, recently announced it will use a $10 million grant from the K&L Gates law firm to create a research center for the study of the ethics of AI.
The center will be called the K&L Gates Endowment for Ethics and Computational Technologies and other endowed funds.
“Law and technology converge at a profoundly important and signature 21st century challenge: how to define ethical boundaries surrounding the emergence of artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge computational technologies,” says Peter J. Kalis, K&L Gates chairman and global managing partner, in a statement.
“I am extraordinarily proud that K&L Gates is making this major investment in CMU, a global leader in computational technologies.”
The support from K&L Gates will specifically create new endowed chairs to support a junior and senior faculty member, three named Presidential Fellowships for doctoral students working in the field of ethics and computational technologies and a biennial international conference that will share new research and scholarship, offer a forum and more.
The gift will also endow two funds for undergraduate students: a Presidential Scholarship Fund and an annual K&L Gates Prize awarded at commencement to a graduating senior who has inspired their fellow students to embrace a love of learning.
“We are deeply grateful to K&L Gates for this generous support,” says Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh. “It is not just technology that will determine how this century unfolds. Our future will also be influenced strongly by how humans interact with technology, how we foresee and respond to the unintended consequences of our work, and how we ensure that technology is used to benefit humanity, individually and as a society.
