The University of Chicago (UChicago) received a $50 million gift from trustees Rika Mansueto and Joe Mansueto to advance the university’s efforts on artificial intelligence (AI). The gift will support the formation of a cohort of faculty who are experts in the use of AI in research in academic disciplines across the university.
Specifically, the gift will help kick off the Mansueto Faculty of Mind and Machine Challenge, a campaign aimed at generating nearly $200 million to recruit, retain, and support 20 scholars from a wide range of fields who are “exemplary in the use of the computational lens of thought in their disciplines,” the university announced.
In addition to the 20 faculty positions, the challenge program will foster investments in the broader academic ecosystem of research and education related to the topics of “mind and machine,” the university said.
“This extraordinary commitment reflects Rika and Joe Mansueto’s deep belief in the University of Chicago’s distinctive approach to inquiry – one that prizes groundbreaking scholarship, intellectual freedom and dialogue across disciplines,” said President Paul Alivisatos. “This is a signal period in intellectual history, and this gift will greatly advance the University as it seeks to shape advances in human thought during this era of AI and machine learning.”
University officials said the challenge is designed to avoid confining AI work to a single school or department and instead spread it across fields ranging from arts and humanities to medicine, law, economics, and science. Some of the scholars supported through the challenge may also hold joint appointments in computer science, mathematics, and statistics.
The university framed that structure as part of an interdisciplinary model that builds upon UChicago’s AI Initiative, which supports 10 faculty-led AI-driven research projects in fields ranging from oncology to visual arts. The AI Initiative also supports a dozen projects that seek to expand and leverage machine learning and AI in the classroom – or to limit its use.
