Google launches ‘AI for society’ and ambitious $2.5B plans

At the French AI Action Summit, a new initiative Current AI was announced – a large-scale project aimed at developing artificial intelligence for society’s benefit. The project starts with an impressive sum of 400 million dollars from investors and plans to raise 2.5 billion dollars over the next five years.

While these numbers might seem modest compared to the recently announced French presidential package of private investments worth 112 billion dollars (not to mention American investments in AI), Current AI’s founders are confident in their approach’s effectiveness. Unlike other initiatives, the project focuses not on computational power, but on specific areas where AI can bring maximum benefit to society – from healthcare to fighting climate change.

The initiative has identified several key work directions. Among them are expanding access to quality public and private datasets for AI training, supporting open infrastructure and tools to increase AI transparency and safety, and developing systems to evaluate artificial intelligence’s social and environmental impact.

Martin Tisné, the project’s founder, stated that Current AI’s goal is to create a financial mechanism that will become a “North Star for public funding of critically important projects.” As examples, he cited using AI in fighting cancer and developing treatment methods for long-term COVID-19 effects.