The Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology plan to launch an artificial intelligence accelerator program focused on fast-tracking AI technologies through fundamental research in computational intelligence, reasoning, decision-making and autonomy.
The MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator will research ways to rapidly prototype, scale and apply AI algorithms and systems to broad applications such as decision support, maintenance and logistics, talent management, medical readiness, situational awareness, business operations and disaster relief.
The Air Force plans to invest $15 million a year into the new accelerator. Under the agreement, MIT will form interdisciplinary teams of researchers, faculty and students to work on a number of topics, including AI, machine learning and robotics. The collaboration is expected to support at least 10 MIT research projects that address challenges that are important to the Air Force and other scientific inquiries related to AI research. Eleven Air Force service members will be selected to work on a research and development team designed to field practical AI solutions for national security challenges.