The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has given three institutions a $5.5 million grant to collectively find solutions to some of the most challenging problems in artificial intelligence (AI) today. Scientists from Georgia Tech, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory will collaborate to develop technologies that are core to the DOE's priorities including cybersecurity, graph analytics, and electric grid resilience. Tushar Krishna, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Machine Learning Center (ML@GT), will serve as a deputy director of the newly established Center for Artificial Intelligence-focused Architectures and Algorithms (ARIAA). Georgia Tech is contributing expertise in modeling and developing custom accelerators for machine learning and sparse linear algebra. The institute will also provide access to its advanced computing resources.

The Energy Department unveiled plans to launch a $5.5 million research center that will bring together top thinkers from three federal and academic institutions to solve some of the world's most complex challenges in artificial intelligence. Researchers from Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Georgia Institute of Technology will join forces in the newly unveiled Center for Artificial Intelligence-Focused Architectures and Algorithms, or ARIAA. "AI will allow us to solve problems today, that simply cannot be solved because they are too complex," said Roberto Gioiosa, the senior research scientist at PNNL selected lead the new center. "This is the science of the future." The move follows Energy Secretary Rick Perry's recent announcement that the agency is working to establish an Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office to coordinate and streamline the agency's efforts and growing investments around AI.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is joining forces with two other research powerhouses to pioneer a new $5.5 million research center created by the U.S. Department of Energy to focus on the biggest challenges in artificial intelligence. The Center for Artificial Intelligence-Focused Architectures and Algorithms, or ARIAA, will promote collaborative projects for scientists at PNNL in Richland, Wash., at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, and at Georgia Tech. PNNL and Sandia are part of the Energy Department's network of research labs. ARIAA will be headed by Roberto Gioiosa, a senior research scientist at PNNL. As center director, he'll be in charge of ARIAA's overall vision, strategy and research direction.