Google has committed $20 million in funding and $2 million in cloud credits to a new initiative to support researchers and scientists working on groundbreaking discoveries using artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement was made by Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind.
Through this initiative, Google.org plans to strengthen its relationships with leading scientific minds by offering them both direct financial support and cloud infrastructure to power their projects, as reported by Xinhua News Agency.
Selected researchers will focus on using AI to solve complex interdisciplinary challenges in diverse scientific fields. According to a blog post by Maggie Johnson, Google vice president and global head of Google.org, promising areas for AI applications include rare and neglected disease research, experimental biology, materials science and sustainability.
The move follows a similar announcement last week by Amazon’s AWS, which revealed $110 million in grants and credits to attract AI researchers to its platform.
“I believe AI has the potential to lead to some of the most important scientific advances of our time,” Hassabis said. “We hope this $20 million fund will foster greater collaboration between the private and public sectors, reignite enthusiasm around the power of AI in science, and inspire others to contribute to this vital work,” he added.