Request for proposals: Making AI robust and beneficial (fwd)

[Bill Hibbard]

This RFP may be interesting to people on this list.

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Request for proposals: Making AI robust and beneficial

Initial proposals (300-1000 words) due:March 1, 2015

The Future of Life Institute, based in Cambridge, MA and headed by Max
Tegmark (MIT),is seeking proposals for research projects aimed to maximize
the future societal benefit of artificial intelligence while avoiding
potential hazards. Projects may fall in the fields of computer science, AI,
machine learning, public policy, law, ethics, economics, or education and
outreach. This 2015 grants competition will award funds totaling $6M USD.

This funding call is limited to research that explicitly focuses not on the
standard goal of making AI more capable, but on making AI more robust and/or
beneficial; for example, research could focus on making machine learning
systems more interpretable, on making high-confidence assertions about AI
systems' behavior, or on ensuring that autonomous systems fail gracefully.
Funding priority will be given to research aimed at keeping AI robust and
beneficial even if it comes to greatly supersede current capabilities,
either by explicitly focusing on issues related to advanced future AI or by
focusing on near-term problems, the solutions of which are likely to be
important first steps toward long-term solutions.

Please do forward this email to any colleagues and mailing lists that you
think would be appropriate.

Proposals

Before applying, please read the complete RFP and list of example topics,
which can be found online along with the application form:

p://futureoflife.org/grants/large/initial

As explained there, most of the funding is for $100K-$500K project grants,
which will each support a small group of collaborators on a focused research
project with up to three years duration. For a list of suggested topics, see
the complete RFP [1] and the Research Priorities document [2]. Initial
proposals, which are intended to require merely a modest amount of
preparation time, must be received on our website [1] on or beforeMarch 1,
2015.

Initial proposals should include a brief project summary, a draft budget,
the principal investigator’s CV, and co-investigators' brief biographies.
After initial proposals are reviewed, some projects will advance to the next
round, completing a Full Proposal by May 17, 2015. Public award
recommendations will be made on or about July 1, 2015, and successful
proposals will begin receiving funding in September 2015.

References and further resources

[1] Complete request for proposals and application form:
http://futureoflife.org/grants/large/initial
[2] Research Prioritiesdocument:
http://futureoflife.org/static/data/documents/research_priorities.pdf
[3] An open letter from AI scientists on research priorities for robust and
beneficial AI: http://futureoflife.org/misc/open_letter
[4] Initial funding announcement:http://futureoflife.org/misc/AI

Questions about Project Grants:de...@futureoflife.org
Media inquiries:teg...@mit.edu