MIT announces $1 billion outlay for study of artificial intelligence, computing - The Boston Globe

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is pumping $1 billion into a new center for the study of the "global opportunities and challenges presented by the prevalence of computing and the rise of artificial intelligence," the school said Monday. In a statement, MIT said the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing will open in September 2019 as "an interdisciplinary hub for work in computer science, AI, data science, and related fields." A $350 million foundational gift from Schwarzman, head of the massive investment firm Blackstone, will get the project rolling. In addition to Schwarzman's gift, MIT has raised another $300 million for the college that bears his name, with further fundraising being "actively pursued" to raise the $1 billion needed for the learning hub, the statement said. "The College's attention to ethics matters enormously to me, because we will never realize the full potential of these advancements unless they are guided by a shared understanding of their moral implications for society," Schwarzman said in the release.