TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- RPI is taking a first-hand approach with the future of artificial intelligence -- joining Meta, IBM and others to form an alliance focused on developing tools, reducing risk and creating a secure future for tech.
“The alliance is really trying in a sense, to do that on a much larger set of things," Dr. Jim Hendler, Director of the Future of Computing Institute at RPI, said. "It includes education, includes tools, it includes policy. It's really very much in a formative stage.”
Hendler said AI has always been present in our tech, from the first GPS to Siri, but as it grows exponentially, it's important to help people understand what AI is and how it works.
“One of the things we're trying very hard to work in the education space is to get people to understand the technology," Hendler said. "When should you trust it? When can't you trust it, what you can trust, and how do you use it productively?”
Evolving AI needs evolving hardware to support it. With recent expansions for chips recently announced in the Capital Region, Hendler said the CHIPS Act and semiconductor manufacturing will play a huge role in AI's future.
“That kind of hardware is going to need special kind of chips, things like that," Hendler said. "Many of the things going on in the States and the CHIPS Act, things like that impact that. So, it's really part of a very wide ecosystem of technology that we're looking at.”
As the alliance gets underway, Hendler said he hopes it will lead to new tech that can address global and health challenges and improve day-to-day life.
“How do we build tools using computers that will help humans do those things we do that we think of as requiring intelligence better," Hendler said. "It's not to replace us, it's to augment us. It's to make us more productive.”
