Stony Brook University has launched its newest project aimed at advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) research on campus: the AI Innovation Institute (AI3).
According to Carl Lejuez, Executive Vice President and Provost of Stony Brook, AI3 is an institute devoted to advancing and studying AI, along with improving access to technological resources for faculty and students.
“[AI3] will benefit students by involving students in what it means to be in a new world,” Lejuez said.
Lejuez said that AI3 is designed to cover a broad spectrum of AI studies spanning from how computer scientists use it to the application and ethics of AI as analyzed by philosophers.
Last spring, Lejuez led a group of 40 faculty members across all academic disciplines, including the arts, healthcare, the humanities, the natural sciences and engineering to brainstorm ways to expand and enhance the University’s AI research efforts. This resulted in the creation of AI3. Lejuez stressed the importance of collaboration between faculty, administration and students to enrich innovation.
Steven Skiena, a distinguished teaching professor in the Department of Computer Science and the director of the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation, is the current interim director of AI3. Skiena said one of the main goals of AI3 is to improve “the research and educational use of AI in Stony Brook.”
“There are questions of what [we should] be teaching in a world where these kinds of models are readily available,” he said.
Stony Brook created a search committee for a permanent director. The co-chairs are Skiena and Robert Harrison, a professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and the director of the Institute for Advanced Computational Science. The rest of the committee is composed of other University staff and faculty members.
“We want to get a world leader in AI,” Skiena said. “There is a challenge to hire people these days because AI is in [such] demand and every university is trying to grow in this area.”
Lejuez credits former Stony Brook President Maurie McInnis with securing the Presidential Innovation and Excellence fund that will be used for AI3. The fund was a $25 million match to the Simons Foundation’s endowment.
“We were able to benefit from the Stony Brook Foundation fundraising a gift that will allow an endowed professorship for this first director,” Lejuez said.
However, despite this, Lejuez explained that funding is currently an obstacle for AI3’s expansion, saying that the University currently has $10 million set aside for AI3. According to him, the University is currently using those funds to support salary and programming.
He is also transparent in the fact that AI3 is currently facing limitations that hinder its ability to compete in the rapidly evolving AI field. Specifically, it has insufficient computational power to do advanced AI research.
However, he says that the Empire AI initiative could provide a solution. This project was created by Governor Kathy Hochul and aims to establish a network of AI computing centers through collaboration among public and private universities across New York, including institutions like Cornell University and SUNY, along with support from organizations like the Simons Foundation.
According to Lejuez, accessing the resources from Empire AI could significantly enhance the University’s research capabilities, enabling it to attract top talent and improve its competitiveness in the AI sector. However, even barring hardware and funding limitations, Lejuez says that AI3 will open a door for students to be involved in innovative research, internships, studying abroad, service learning or entrepreneurship and paid opportunities.
“If you do have a focus on equity and access, you have to be aware that there are some students who can’t do an unpaid research opportunity because they have to work,” he said.
To Skiena, AI3 represents a way for Stony Brook to capitalize on a growing technology that will likely become more and more integrated into people’s lives as time goes on.
“[AI] is a phenomena that is going to shape a lot of the world that you’re going to be living in,” he said.
