To examine artificial intelligence, the University of Notre Dame is partnering with a consortium of internet entities and academic enthusiasts. The AI Alliance, spearheaded by IBM and Meta (the parent company of Facebook), is dedicated to safeguarding the integrity, ethics, and well-being of technology to maximize the societal benefits of AI.
Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins emphasized the dual nature of artificial intelligence advancements, stating, “Innovations in artificial intelligence offer both the promise of advancing the common good and the peril of undermining it.” He further highlighted the importance of addressing not only the technological aspects but also the crucial social implications of AI.
This global coalition will collaborate with various organizations to address a spectrum of topics, including:
- Developing measures, resources, and frameworks for ethical AI deployment on a global scale.
- Establishing standards for transparent AI model evaluation and implementation.
- Curating a repository of open-source models to tackle societal challenges such as climate change and public health.
- Establishing a network of technology accelerators to support the application of AI technology.
- Cultivating expertise, knowledge, and research in the field of AI.
- Providing educational materials to facilitate public discourse and inform decision-makers.
- Initiating initiatives that foster the responsible and beneficial progress of AI.
Partners from renowned institutions such as Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Imperial College London, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Technical University of Munich, UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society, UCLA, University of Tokyo, and Yale University, among others, will converge in South Bend as part of this alliance.
This collaboration is poised to offer unprecedented opportunities for educators and students at Notre Dame to contribute to advancements that yield global benefits. Jeffrey F. Rhoads, the Vice President for Research at Notre Dame and a professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, expressed optimism about the inclusive, multidisciplinary innovation ecosystem that will drive technological progress. He emphasized that engineers, data scientists, practitioners, and other researchers from Notre Dame will collaborate with AI labs worldwide and industry partners as founding members of the AI Alliance to foster technological advancements that positively impact society.
