Jane Edwards
LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Omidyar Network and other institutions have created a potential $27 million fund that seeks to consider ethical and accountability issues in research and development of artificial intelligence.
The MIT Media Lab and Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society will act as founding academic organizations for the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund that will be housed at the Miami Foundation, the Knight Foundation said Tuesday.
The fund will work to support AI-related governance and ethics projects in the U.S. and abroad that include a joint AI fellowship program in support of individuals that seek to position human issues at the front line of AI.
The fund might also address AI-related issues such as technology design that considers moral values and ethical frameworks, controls that could help mitigate AI’s potential harm to society and innovation in the public interest.
Omidyar Network and Hoffman each made a $10 million contribution to the fund, while the Knight Foundation offered $5 million.
Jim Pallotta, founder of financial services firm Raptor Group, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation each pledged $1 million to the fund.
