Paul Allen Increases AI Funding

 Artificial Intelligence  

Microsoft co-founder has already demonstrated a serious philanthropic bend with the creation of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. Now his foundation is investing serious dollars into the study of artificial intelligence.

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is taking proposals from researchers interested in working on using “risky, novel approaches” to study artificial intelligence topics like machine reading, diagram interpretation and reasoning, and spatial and temporal reasoning.

As part of the Allen Distinguished Investigator (ADI) Program, the foundation will offer $1 to $2 million for five to eight projects — a total of $8 million — over a three-year period.

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The foundation’s goal is to give this year’s ADI researchers the ability to “answer big, open questions of science that may be too risky or bold for traditional sources of funding.”

“We don’t shy away from the untried or untested. Instead, we look for the curious and the bold,” Jody Allen, co-founder and president of the Foundation, said in a statement. “We are looking for researchers that are driven by this same passion — to look for a cutting-edge approach that will pioneer and expand science and result in breakthroughs that will help change the world.”

Oren Etzioni is heading up the recently-launched Allen Institute for AI.

The stated mission of the Allen Institute for AI says:

We are working to realize the vision of a "Digital Aristotle" – AI software that utilizes large amounts of knowledge in machine-understandable form to answer questions, explain those answers, and discuss those answers with users. 

The focus on AI topics for 2014 is related to the vision of the recently-launched Allen Institute for AI, a multi-million dollar effort led by Etzioni that could have huge implications for the region’s tech industry and, more importantly, society as a whole. Etzioni, a former University of Washington computer science professor and veteran entrepreneur, began work at the institute this past fall.

The ADI Program is a distinct from the new Allen Institute for AI and is fully funded and operated by the foundation. Philanthropist and investor Paul G. Allen founded of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and is the co-founder of Microsoft.

SOURCE  Geek Wire

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