Google offers cash for using AI to scale up research
GOOGLE is offering US$ 25 million ( RM105 million) to universities and non-profits that have research ideas that can be expanded by using artificial intelligence and other technology to solve problems.
The Google AI Impact Challenge, which includes the offer of help and coaching from experts at Google, launched Monday. “We want to invest in the best ideas globally,” said Jacquelline Fuller, vice president of Google and president of Google.org.
What kinds of ideas? Google says it’s open to many fields - including the humanities, such as art or archaeology - and is looking for projects that could have social and environmental impact. For example, Google has helped with projects such as flood forecasting, allowing officials to warn people of impending danger.
Another project aims to combat child sex trafficking. Because so many victims are advertised online, a tool was developed that helps law enforcement sift through massive amounts of digital information. The technology identifies patterns. “What AI can do is look for the signals that matter - repeated phone numbers, location, image similarity,” Fuller says, and use algorithms to pinpoint
We have heard from universities who have ideas about how AI can be applied. Sometimes, what they’re lacking is the resources.
possible signs of children being trafficked, allowing law enforcement to investigate the most likely cases.
Hundreds of thousands of lawenforcement officers are using that technology, Fuller said, helping them find thousands of traffickers and victims.
They’re unifying those efforts and calling it AI for Social Good, and launched the six-month Impact Challenge Monday, issuing a call for research partners around the world.
“We have heard from universities who have ideas about how AI can be applied. Sometimes, what they’re lacking is the resources,” Fuller said. Professors, students and people working at non-profits can submit proposals, even if they don’t have expertise in the technology, including if the ideas are in the early stages of development. Winners will be announced next year.
“We’re open to bunch of ideas and types of ideas,” said Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, head of product impact for Google.org. Once winners are chosen, Google will kick off an accelerator programme, giving recipients funding, support and expertise for the next one to three years.
Jacquelline Fuller, vice president of Google and president of Google.org