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NSF Makes 11 Research Project Grants Under Amazon-Backed Fairness in AI Program

NSF Makes 11 Research Project Grants Under Amazon-Backed Fairness in AI Program - top government contractors - best government contracting event
Artificial intelligence

The National Science Foundation has awarded grants to nine universities to fund 11 research projects under the Program on Fairness in Artificial Intelligence, which was launched in partnership with Amazon to help ensure AI systems are accountable, beneficial to all, fair, inclusive and transparent.

The agency said Wednesday the initiative supports computational research and is focused on theoretical and algorithmic foundations of the technology; principles for human interaction with AI systems; natural language understanding, computer vision and other AI-based technologies; and AI applications in hiring decisions, education, criminal justice, human services and other areas.

One research seeks to quantify and mitigate disparities in language technologies while another aims to ensure fair use of patient attributes through the use of theoretical tools.

The 2021 FAI program awardees are:

  • University of California-Santa Cruz
  • New York University
  • Harvard University
  • Carnegie-Mellon University
  • American University
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • University of California-San Diego
  • University of Virginia Main Campus

The grants range from $375,000 to $625,000, with varying performance period.

“As AI technologies become more prevalent in our daily lives, AI fairness is an increasingly important area of scientific endeavor," said Prem Natarajan, vice president in Amazon’s Alexa unit.

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Written by Christine Thropp

oversees day-to-day content production for ExecutiveBiz, a publication under Executive Mosaic's media group covering government contracting industry news. She also writes about executive movements and commentaries, M&A activities, contract awards and technology and service offerings of medium-sized businesses and other GovCon companies. Prior to assuming her current responsibilities with EBiz, Thropp produced daily competitive intelligence briefings for the company's GovCon customers.

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