TLDR:
- Dartmouth College has joined the AI Alliance as a founding member, aiming to accelerate open innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) that benefits society.
- Partnerships between alliance members are being formalized, and the alliance aims to identify areas of collaboration and research.
- AI research at Dartmouth will benefit from the resources that alliance partners, such as IBM and Meta, bring to the field.
- The Center for Precision Health and Artificial Intelligence at Dartmouth will benefit from the range of partners in the alliance, providing access to diverse data and expertise.
- The AI Alliance will also provide opportunities for Dartmouth students to connect with technology companies for internships and research.
- The alliance aims to bring more awareness about the rapid development of AI and enable the Dartmouth community to have a voice in the field.
In early December, Dartmouth College announced that it had joined the AI Alliance as a founding member. The AI Alliance is a group that aims to accelerate open innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) and connect industry leaders to facilitate the exchange of AI tools. Dartmouth, which hosted the conference that first coined the term artificial intelligence in 1956, is partnering with leaders in government, higher education, and technology. The alliance’s website states that its goal is to responsibly benefit people and society everywhere.
The alliance is currently focusing on formalizing partnerships between its members. Dartmouth’s Provost, David Kotz, explains, “An alliance is a set of organizations that agree in some way to work together, so there needs to be some formalism around that. What are we actually doing when we’re working together? What are the rights and responsibilities of every member of the group?” The alliance aims to identify areas of interest for collaboration and research among its partners.
One of the main benefits of Dartmouth’s participation in the AI Alliance is the access to resources provided by partners such as IBM and Meta. According to George Cybenko, an engineering professor at Dartmouth, academic research institutions like Dartmouth cannot compete with companies in terms of resources required for AI research. Cybenko says, “A lot of the cutting edge is happening in companies because of their ability to put a lot of money towards it very quickly. Companies may not have the [people to conduct research]… and university people don’t have the resources that some of these companies have. So it’s synergistic.”
Dartmouth’s Center for Precision Health and Artificial Intelligence (CPHAI), which applies AI and machine learning models to precision health, will benefit from the range of partners in the alliance. Saeed Hassanpour, the director of CPHAI, emphasizes the importance of the partnership between academia and industry in the development and sharing of open AI technologies. The alliance will provide the CPHAI with diverse data and expertise to build more generalizable models in healthcare.
In addition to research benefits, the AI Alliance will also provide opportunities for Dartmouth students to connect with technology companies for internships and research. According to Cybenko, networking and leveraging resources with people interested in the same research areas is crucial.
Overall, participation in the AI Alliance will bring more awareness to the rapid development of AI and enable the Dartmouth community to have a voice in the field. Kotz hopes that the alliance will help faculty and students stay aware of technological advancements and challenges, and enable them to make an impact in AI discussions and development.