From the technology that helps self-driving cars recognize stop signs, to medical advancements that help produce COVID-19 vaccines, to studying the unconscious bias found in algorithms, the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering is involved in all parts of AI development. As artificial intelligence continues to infiltrate everyday life, IU's researchers are focused on developing these technologies, while working to ensure their research is safe and ethical. The Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence is set to open this month, providing researchers a place to focus on the intersection of robotics, complex networks, health and social media. Kay Connelly, Luddy School's associate dean of research, studies proactive health and AI technologies that can help the terminally ill and older people as they age, specifically wearable devices. She said proactive health is like "Fitbit before Fitbit."

Now, AI at IU has a home. IU President Michael A. McRobbie dedicated the $35 million Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence, a 58,000-square-foot facility that will serve as the hub for multidisciplinary research in advanced AI and machine-learning applications, during a ceremony June 23 at Luddy Hall. "As we dedicate the Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence, it is fair to say that we are also celebrating what will be a game-changing development for Indiana University," McRobbie said. "Indiana University has been a center of research in a number of areas of AI for many years. Artificial intelligence has long been an area of strength of the Department of Computer Science and, more broadly, IU faculty in the cognitive sciences, psychological sciences and neurosciences have also long been engaged in areas of research relevant to AI. The explosion worldwide of the uses and applications of AI, building on decades of steady research progress, made this the perfect time for IU to establish a major holistic initiative in artificial intelligence."

Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering dean Raj Acharya poses for a headshot. Acharya will step down mid-March to participate in an artificial intelligence research initiative at IU. Courtesy of Indiana University Dean of the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Raj Acharya will step down mid-March to participate in an artificial intelligence research initiative. Acharya said the school will hire an acting dean to replace him and then conduct a national search to find a permanent dean. Acharya launched the Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering in 2016 and has been dean since July 2016. He will now be associate vice president for research with the specific task of promoting artificial intelligence.