Backside line: OpenAI has confronted repeated accusations of exploiting content material creators, journalists, and researchers to gasoline its for-profit empire constructed on AI fashions vulnerable to hallucinations. Now, the San Francisco-based firm is making an attempt to restore its tarnished fame by committing tens of millions to a brand new funding initiative geared toward placing its expertise to extra optimistic use.
OpenAI not too long ago introduced NextGenAI, a brand new consortium geared toward advancing analysis and schooling via AI-driven innovation. The corporate is committing $50 million from its rising monetary reserves to fund main educational establishments and equip researchers with AI instruments to speed up their workloads. Notably, members will likely be inspired to make the most of OpenAI’s personal merchandise and API applied sciences.
In accordance with OpenAI, NextGenAI marks a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the corporate and 15 analysis establishments throughout the US and the UK. The funding will likely be allotted towards analysis grants, computing sources, and API entry to OpenAI’s AI fashions, supporting college students, educators, and researchers.
NextGenAI companions embrace Caltech, California State College, Duke College, the College of Georgia, Harvard College, Howard College, the College of Mississippi, Ohio State College, Texas A&M, and Boston Youngsters’s Hospital, amongst others.
OpenAI companions are already leveraging AI in cutting-edge analysis initiatives that might revolutionize healthcare and reimagine schooling. The corporate highlighted a number of breakthrough examples, together with Ohio State College, which is exploring AI fashions to advance healthcare, manufacturing, and power. In the meantime, Harvard College and Boston Youngsters’s Hospital are utilizing OpenAI instruments to cut back the time required for correct affected person diagnoses.
Past healthcare, OpenAI envisions a future the place libraries and universities are deeply built-in with AI. As an example, the College of Oxford and Boston Public Library are digitizing uncommon texts and public area supplies utilizing OpenAI’s APIs, enabling higher transcriptions and expanded entry to historic information. In the meantime, the College of Mississippi remains to be within the early levels of exploring how AI can improve schooling, analysis, and repair.
Nonetheless, OpenAI can be pushing for widespread AI adoption in academia, making certain that future generations change into deeply immersed in its expertise. The corporate brazenly states its objective of creating college students and students “AI-fluent” – a transfer that, unsurprisingly, would additionally increase its personal enterprise.
The NextGenAI initiative builds upon ChatGPT Edu, a program OpenAI launched in Could 2024 to supply expanded entry to ChatGPT for academic establishments. Whereas ChatGPT Edu targeted totally on AI-powered chat, NextGenAI takes a broader strategy, providing monetary assist, computing sources, and analysis instruments to scientists, students, and college students.
