Harvard University Launches New Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence

Harvard University formally opened its new Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence this month, a cross-disciplinary research hub based in Allston that will pool faculty from the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard Kennedy School.

University officials said the institute grew out of years of informal collaboration between computer scientists and public health researchers, particularly in clinical data modeling and health policy simulation, and was formalized after a multi-year fundraising effort brought in more than $140 million in gifts and research grants.

"We have real strength in computing and real strength in medicine and public policy, and for a long time those worlds mostly stayed in their own buildings," said the institute's inaugural director, a longtime Harvard computer science professor. "This gives us an actual home for the people who want to work at that intersection instead of doing it as a side project."

The institute will fund roughly 25 new faculty and postdoctoral positions over the next five years, with initial research clusters focused on AI applications in clinical diagnostics, public health policy modeling, and biomedical data science. A new fellowship program will also bring in 35 doctoral students annually, with priority given to projects that pair a computing advisor with a medical or policy co-advisor.

State economic development officials have welcomed the announcement as a boost to the Boston area's already dense technology and biotech sector. University leaders said the institute's new building, part of the ongoing Allston campus expansion, is expected to open to researchers within the year.