IBM and MIT set up joint AI research lab

The new lab will undertake artificial intelligence (AI) research with the aim of advancing hardware, software and algorithms in machine learning; increase AI’s impact on industries; and explore the economic and ethical implication of it on society.

Co-chaired by Dario Gil, IBM Research VP of AI and IBM Q, and Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, it will involve 100 AI scientists, professors and students to pursue joint research.

One of the new lab’s objectives is to encourage MIT faculty and students to launch companies that will focus on commercialising AI inventions and technologies that are developed at the lab.

John Kelly III, IBM senior vice-president, cognitive solutions and research, said: "The field of artificial intelligence has experienced incredible growth and progress over the past decade. Yet today’s AI systems, as remarkable as they are, will require new innovations to tackle increasingly difficult real-world problems to improve our work and lives.

"The extremely broad and deep technical capabilities and talent at MIT and IBM are unmatched, and will lead the field of AI for at least the next decade."