MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab

2017: Creation

On September 7, 2017 the IBM corporation announced creation of laboratory of the artificial intelligence (AI) in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Within the joint project under the name MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab researchers will be engaged in development of technologies for health care and cyber security.

Investments of IBM into MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab will make $240 million. Money will be selected within 10 years.

President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Raphael Rafe (at the left) and senior vice president of the IBM Cognitive Solutions and Research group John Kelly

Staff of laboratory will work in a campus of MTI and also in the IBM Watson Health and Security centers which are nearby. Specialists will be engaged in development of new algorithms, optimization of operation of devices (including chips for quantum computings) and studying of opportunities of implementation of artificial intelligence in society.

Special emphasis is going to be put on medicine and information security. The health care is one of key areas of development of projects based on the IBM Watson supercomputer.

According to the vice president of IBM for projects of artificial intelligence in division of IBM Research  Dario Gil, cross-disciplinary approach to researches will become feature of new laboratory: are going to employ physicists, economists and representatives of other knowledge domains which are far outside traditional AI examination. The company intends to encourage scientists and students from MTI to start of the startups concentrated on commercialization of AI technologies.

The senior vice president of the IBM Cognitive Solutions and Research group John Kelly says that the company always conducted long-term researches independently, however with artificial intelligence decided to get in a case support of the experienced partner as this area became so extensive that without new talents and the ideas now not to manage.^[1]

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