Google though its non-profit arm Google.org has launched the Digital Futures Project, an initiative that aims to promote responsible artificial intelligence (AI) researchers, convenings and debate on public policy solutions.
As part of the Project, Google.org‘s $20 million fund will provide grants to leading think tanks and academic institutions around the world to facilitate dialogue and inquiry into this important technology to address some of society’s most complex challenges — like preventing disease, making cities work better and predicting natural disasters.
Google will also sees issues such as fairness, bias, misinformation, security and the future of work addressed in collaboration with industry, academia, governments and civil society.
Inaugural grantees of the Digital Futures Fund include the Aspen Institute, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for a New American Security, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for Security and Technology, Leadership Conference Education Fund, MIT Work of the Future, R Street Institute and SeedAI. The fund will support institutions from countries around the globe.
Google believes that being bold on AI means being responsible from the start. In 2018, Google published a set of AI Principles to guide the work, and establish a governance team to put them into action by conducting rigorous reviews of new systems.
The Digital Futures Project and this fund will support many others across academia and civil society to advance independent research on AI that helps this transformational technology benefit everyone.