U-M joins new OpenAI initiative to advance AI research and education

The University of Michigan (U-M) has joined NextGenAI, a $50 million initiative designed to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research and education. NextGenAI was recently founded by OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT. U-M's participation has the potential to strengthen the university's AI resources and boost its ability to conduct groundbreaking AI research. 

"We're very happy to be in this group, and we're excited about the projects that we're going to be doing as part of that program," says Michael Wellman, professor of computer science and engineering at U-M's College of Engineering. 

Wellman, who is also the principal investigator for the partnership, underscores that U-M has extensive AI initiatives across multiple educational domains. The new partnership dovetails with U-M’s Vision 2034, which includes the expansion of AI research. 

"All of our research is about solving hard problems," he says. "AI is a tool that provides new leverage against some of these problems and helps address foundational research questions."

Wellman shares that the university has just put out a call for proposals across the Ann Arbor campus. Funding will go to programs centered on AI technology and innovative applications, as well as projects that address the social implications of AI.

He adds that the partnership will allow for the funding of all kinds of research expenses, including supporting students who are conducting research. OpenAI will provide "credits" in exchange for accessing the models and tools that they provide commercially to various types of users.

"We have graduate students who do research with us, as well as computation, which is a really important ingredient for research and advancing AI," Wellman says. "We're going to get some specific allocation that will amount to significant access to the latest versions of these tools."

Wellman expects that the initial set of projects will be supported for approximately one year. If the new collaboration is successful, he hopes there will be additional rounds in the future.

"One of the things that is so special about Michigan is the fact that it brings expertise in almost all areas," he says. "What we're going to do is showcase the breadth of the ways that Michigan can advance the field of AI."

Jaishree Drepaul is a writer and editor based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at jaishreeedit@gmail.com.

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