IBM Corp. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today that they are teaming up to build a new joint research lab aimed at furthering the development of artificial intelligence.

Over the next 10 years, IBM says that it will invest $240 million in building the new lab, which will focus on four “pillars” of AI research:

• AI algorithms: The advanced algorithms that power AI
• Physics of AI: The hardware and materials required to handle extremely powerful AI
• Application of AI to industries: The use cases of how AI can be used to improve business processes
• Advancing shared prosperity through AI: The ethics of developing AI and the ways it can be used to promote social good

“Today’s AI systems, as remarkable as they are, will require new innovations to tackle increasingly difficult real-world problems to improve our work and lives,” said John Kelly III, senior vice president of cognitive solutions and research at IBM.

“True breakthroughs are often the result of fresh thinking inspired by new kinds of research teams,” added MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “The combined MIT and IBM talent dedicated to this new effort will bring formidable power to a field with staggering potential to advance knowledge and help solve important challenges.”

IBM is not the first major tech firm to invest in academic AI programs. For example, Alphabet Inc. created a $3.4 million research grant in November for the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms, and members of Alphabet’s DeepMind team have previously taught Masters-level machine learning courses at University College London. Chinese web giant Baidu Inc. has also worked on a number of AI projects in collaboration with Stanford University.

Although IBM’s partnership with MIT may not be an industry first, IBM says that its new joint research lab is “one of the largest long-term university-industry AI collaborations to date,” involving more than 100 scientists, professors and students. IBM also said that the lab will contribute to the greater AI research community by publishing its research, as well as by contributing to open source AI projects.

Artificial intelligence is a cornerstone of IBM’s long-term plans, and it is part of the company’s “strategic imperatives” segment, which includes emerging technologies such as cloud, analytics and mobile.

Photo: IBM (license)