Southampton-led initiative awards £12m to breakthrough AI projects
A series of breakthrough AI projects has been awarded £12 million to address the challenges of rapid advances in artificial intelligence.
Funding comes from the University of Southampton-led Responsible AI UK (RAi UK) initiative, as part of a £31 million programme running over the next four years.
Three multi-disciplinary projects will look to tackle emerging concerns of generative and other forms of AI currently being built and deployed across society.
They’ll cover the health and social care sectors, law enforcement and financial services.
Gopal Ramchurn, professor of AI at the University of Southampton and CEO of RAi UK, said: “These projects are the keystones of the RAi UK programme and have been chosen because they address the most pressing challenges that society faces with the rapid advances in AI.
“They’ll deliver interdisciplinary research that looks to address the complex sociotechnical challenges that already exist or are emerging with the use of generative AI and other forms of AI deployed in the real world.
“The concerns around AI are not just for governments and industry to deal with – it’s important that AI experts engage with researchers and policymakers to ensure we can better anticipate the issues that will be caused by AI.”
Launched last year, RAi UK has so far delivered £13 million of research funding.
It’s developing its own research programme to support ongoing work across major initiatives such as the AI Safety Institute, the Alan Turing Institute, and BRAID UK.
RAi UK is backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of government plans to turn the UK into a powerhouse for future AI development.
Dr Kedar Pandya, UKRI technology missions fund SRO, said: “AI has great potential to drive positive impacts across both our society and economy.
“This funding will support projects that are considering the responsible use of AI within specific contexts.
“These projects showcase strong features of the responsible AI ecosystem we have within the UK and will build partnerships across a diverse set of organisations working on shared challenges.
“These investments complement UKRI’s £1 billion portfolio of investments in AI research and innovation, and will help strengthen public trust in AI, maximising the value of this transformative technology.”
An additional two UKRI-funded projects at RAi UK are looking at both how responsible AI can help drive productivity, and how public voices can be amplified in the design and deployment of these technologies.
