Collaborative Design of Data and AI Systems for Science and Society 

As part of an ongoing effort to develop effective public-private partnerships and amid growing excitement about the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in society, MIDAS, in collaboration with Microsoft and the city of Detroit, launched the Collaborative Design of Data and AI Systems for Science and Society project with a diverse group of experts from U-M, Microsoft and Detroit.

With such rapid advancements in AI, there’s a lot of opportunity to develop AI technologies for scientific and government data, an area that is often overlooked. Tapping into this market can aid in the responsible use of AI, build trustworthiness of both scientific research and policymaking and enhance the validity and impact of data-driven decisions.

Supported by a grant for Approaches to Research & Development Strategic Visioning (RDSV) grant, and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) type of proposal from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the project brings together data science and AI methodologists from the University of Michigan and Microsoft, U-M scientists who apply these methods across disciplines, and the city of Detroit’s data team. The project builds a mechanism for academia, industry, and the public sector to collaborate and co-design research and development (R&D) directions that simultaneously improve data systems and AI systems.

These co-designed systems will be better equipped to address scientific and societal challenges and help prevent harm from the inappropriate use of data and AI.

The RDSV project team has completed two workshops, with a third hackathon-style workshop scheduled for August in downtown Detroit.

Please direct inquiries to the project’s principal investigator, Dr. Jing Liu, executive director of MIDAS, at [email protected].