NSF establishes 11 new Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced the establishment of 11 new NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, building on the first round of seven institutes funded in 2020. The combined investment of $220 million expands the reach of these institutes to include a total of 40 states and the District of Columbia.

The institutes are focused on AI-based technologies that will bring about a range of advances: helping older adults lead more independent lives and improving the quality of their care; transforming AI into a more accessible “plug-and-play” technology; creating solutions to improve agriculture and food supply chains; enhancing adult online learning by introducing AI as a foundational element; and supporting underrepresented students in elementary to post-doctoral STEM education to improve equity and representation in AI research.

“These institutes are hubs for academia, industry and government to accelerate discovery and innovation in AI,” says NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.

The National AI Research Institutes will act as connections in a broader nationwide network to pursue transformational advances in a range of economic sectors and science and engineering fields – from food system security to next-generation edge networks. The new awards, each at about $20 million over five years, will support 11 institutes spanning the following seven research areas: 1) AI for advances in optimization, 2) AI and advanced cyberinfrastructure, 3) AI in computer and network systems, 4) AI in dynamic systems, 5) human-AI interaction and collaboration, 6) AI-augmented learning, and 7) AI-driven innovation in agriculture and the food system.

The focus of the 11 National AI Institutes and their affiliations include:

• NSF AI Institute for Collaborative Assistance and Responsive Interaction for Networked Groups, Georgia Tech
• NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization, Georgia Tech
• NSF AI Institute for Learning-enabled Optimization at Scale, University of California San Diego
• NSF AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment, The Ohio State University
• NSF AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence, The Ohio State University
• NSF AI Institute for Edge Computing Leveraging Next-generation Networks, Duke University
• NSF AI Institute for Dynamic Systems, University of Washington
• NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning, North Carolina State University
• NSF AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education, Georgia Research Alliance
• The USDA-NIFA Institute for Agricultural AI for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support, Washington State University
• The AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, Iowa State University

For more, visit NSF AI Research Institutes.