The consortium connects UGA with top institutions to promote research and promotes practical AI learning
The University of Georgia is participating in the Nextgenai Consortium, a partnership with 14 other leading research institutes and technology company Openai to accelerate AI research and education.
Known for its generative AI technology, including ChatGpt, Openai calculates funding through a $50 million research grant, access to Openai’s tools and a consortium. This initiative supports the discovery and development of new AI applications and provides students with hands-on experience working with technology.
“We look forward to joining such a prominent institutional group in this important effort to drive the frontier of AI and data science,” said Jeanette Taylor, deputy director of Academic Affairs and chairman of the university’s Leadership Council on Artificial Intelligence. “This partnership will promote UGA’s efforts to apply these cutting-edge technologies to major global challenges.”
Participating in UGA as founding members of the consortium are private institutions, such as California, California, Duke University, Harvard University, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California State University System, University of Michigan, University of Mississippi, Ohio State University, and Texas A&M University. Other partners include Oxford University, Science PO, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston Public Library, and Opening.
Participation in the Nextgenai Consortium strengthens UGA’s long-standing commitment to interdisciplinary AI and data science research and education. UGA faculty began exploring the field of AI over 40 years ago. Today, the university’s AI Institute serves as a cross-cut hub for AI and data science research and academic programs. Supported by the offices of Provost and Franklin University of Arts and Sciences, IAI includes faculty from almost every corner of the campus, including computer science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, engineering, business, forestry and many other fields.
UGA researchers are using AI to find solutions to a wide range of challenges. Among many other projects, faculty assesses the potential cybersecurity threats facing Georgia county governments, develop large-scale language models for telehealth, and explores what drives students’ interests and curiosity while studying science.
Last fall, UGA received another five-year $10 million grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences and established a research and development center that provides national leadership in best practices for using generated AI in schools.
The university’s strategic investments in AI and data science include the Presidential Interdisciplinary Faculty Employment Initiative for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, which began in 2021. Through this initiative, UGA has recruited 70 faculty members with expertise in applying data science and artificial intelligence to address the challenges facing local communities, states and the world.
“The AI field would not be where we are today without decades of work in the academic community,” Brad Lightcap, Chief Operating Officer at Openai, said in a statement announcing the consortium. “NextGenai catalyzes a new generation of institutions equipped to accelerate research progress and leverage the transformational power of AI.”
