OpenAI today announced the launch of NextGenAI, a consortium of 15 leading research institutions dedicated to using artificial intelligence to accelerate research breakthroughs and transform education.

The consortium launches with $50 million in funding from OpenAI for research grants, compute funding and application programming interface access to support students, educators and researchers who wish to advance the “frontiers of knowledge.”

The founding partners of NextGenAI are Caltech, the California State University system, Duke University, the University of Georgia, Harvard University, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, the University of Mississippi, The Ohio State University, the University of Oxford, Sciences Po and Texas A&M University. Also joining the consortium are the Boston Children’s Hospital and the Boston Public Library.

As partners, each member will use AI to tackle high-impact challenges, from revolutionizing healthcare to reimagining education.

Some of the initial projects being funded by the consortium include efforts at Ohio State University to leverage AI in digital health, advanced therapeutics and manufacturing. Researchers are applying AI to accelerate breakthroughs across sectors such as energy, mobility and agriculture.

Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital are using OpenAI tools to shorten diagnostic times for rare diseases and improve AI alignment with human values in medical decision-making. Meanwhile, Duke University is pioneering metascience research to identify scientific fields where AI can drive the greatest benefit.

On the education front, Texas A&M is leveraging NextGenAI resources to drive a generative AI Literacy Initiative that offers hands-on training for responsible AI usage in academic settings. MIT is giving students and faculty access to OpenAI’s API and compute resources to allow them to train, fine-tune and innovate new AI models and Howard University is integrating AI into curricula and operational improvements to provide students with real-world experience and prepare them as future leaders.

“The field of AI wouldn’t be where it is today without decades of work in the academic community. Continued collaboration is essential to build AI that benefits everyone,” said Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer at OpenAI. “NextGenAI will accelerate research progress and catalyze a new generation of institutions equipped to harness the transformative power of AI.”

The initiative follows previous commitments by OpenAI to supporting education and follows from the May 2024 launch of ChatGPT Edu, a program that gave university-wide access to ChatGPT.

“NextGenAI is designed to support the scientist searching for a cure, the scholar uncovering new insights and the student mastering AI for the world ahead,” said ChatGPT in its announcement post.

Image: OpenAI