Harvard a partner in $20 million AI institute
The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $20 million grant to a team of scientists, including eight from Harvard, to create a new research institute aimed at exploring the use of artificial intelligence in fundamental physics. The AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions, announced Wednesday, is a cross-discipline collaboration between 20 physicists and seven AI experts from Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, and Tufts University. In a kind of virtuous circle, the effort will use artificial intelligence to solve problems in fundamental physics and use principles of fundamental physics to improve and understand methods in AI. The scientists believe that doing this will lead to more effective, efficient, and interpretable AI. This will ultimately improve research and knowledge of the fundamental interactions in the universe, from the smallest to largest scales. Examples could include using AI to study subatomic particles and using advanced machine-learning techniques to...