Paul Allen to invest $125M for new 'common sense AI' project, aims to achieve 'major breakthroughs'

Paul Allen is pouring more money into artificial intelligence research. The Microsoft co-founder on Wednesday announced Project Alexandria, a new initiative that aims to help develop "common sense AI." Allen is committing $125 million over the next three years to the project, housed at the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). The money will go toward Project Alexandria, as well as other work being done at AI2. AI research has seen exponential advancements over the past decade, but machines are still incapable of certain types of problem solving or dealing with unpredictable situations. "When I founded AI2, I wanted to expand the capabilities of artificial intelligence through high-impact research," Allen said in a statement. "Early in AI research, there was a great deal of focus on common sense, but that work stalled. AI still lacks what most 10-year-olds possess: ordinary common sense. We want to jump start that research to achieve major breakthroughs in the field."