Hoosier universities join AI consortium
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Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame and Purdue University have joined a national consortium of technology companies, corporations, research institutions and other organizations to help set standards for the use of artificial intelligence.
The Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium was formed under the U.S. Department of Commerce following a presidential executive order issued in October to develop standards for the responsible use of AI.
The three Indiana universities are among more than 200 members of the consortium, which also includes corporations such as Amazon and Apple, organizations such as the Free Software Foundation and the Responsible AI Institute, and other universities such as Cornell and Princeton.
“We are excited to join AISIC at a pivotal time for AI and for our society,” Jeffrey Rhoads, vice president for research and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Notre Dame, said in a university news release. “We know that to manage AI risks, we first have to measure and understand them. It is a grand challenge that neither technologists nor government agencies can tackle alone.”
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Feb. 8 announced the creation of the consortium, which will be housed under the agency’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Among the consortium’s goals are to collaborate on research and prioritize approaches to better understanding AI’s impact on society and the U.S. economy.
“NIST has been tasked with addressing amongst the most important and challenging dilemmas in AI governance, and as such plays a critical role in the US and global AI trajectory,” Daniel Schiff, co-director of Purdue’s Governance and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Lab, said in a Feb. 9 university news release.
Experts say artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how we live and work but could exacerbate fraud, disinformation and discrimination.