King's College London has revealed an award of £5 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of a wider £31-million research investment across universities this week to develop trustworthy and secure Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can help solve the world’s major challenges.
The project is led by Dr Kate Devlin, from the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s, and involves Dr Caitlin Bentley and Professor Sana Khareghani from the Department of Informatics and British Indian medic Professor Prokar Dasgupta from the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology and the Department of Surgical & Interventional Engineering. Professor Dasgupta welcomed the award for its huge potential in the field of healthcare.
Dasgupta, Professor of Surgery, King's Health Partners and Healthcare Lead for the UKRI Responsible Artificial Intelligence UK (RAI UK), said: "I am delighted by the UKRI's decision to invest in responsible AI research and innovation, which will benefit all aspects of society.
"AI technology has huge potential to transform healthcare – providing life-changing medical treatment, improving patient outcomes through diagnostics and monitoring, and even supporting surgeons within the operating theatre. This investment is a hugely exciting prospect for the future of healthcare and the next generation of surgical trainees and students embarking on their careers."
Notably, Prof. Dasgupta was conferred the Padma Shri by the President of India last year for his contributions to Robotic Surgery and Urological Innovation.
The funding package for King’s forms part of a £31-million award to a consortium led by the University of Southampton to create an international research and innovation ecosystem for responsible AI that will be responsive to the needs of society. According to a King's College London statement, the grant will fund research that helps us understand what responsible and trustworthy AI is, how to develop it, and how to build it into existing systems and the impacts it will have on society.
Dr Devlin said: “This is a timely investment, bringing together a world-leading, diverse and multidisciplinary team from all four nations of the UK to work on cutting-edge issues. It is particularly exciting to have the King’s strand of the project based in Arts and Humanities, where the College has recently invested in the Digital Futures Institute, exploring how we can live well with technology.
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“This is truly cross-cutting research on responsible AI with a human-centred approach at the very heart of it.”
The initiative aims to collaborate with policymakers, providing evidence for how this can be legislated for and regulated. Activities will include extensive research programs, partnerships between academic institutions and businesses, and the publication of white papers outlining UK-specific and global approaches.
Dr Bentley said: “For AI to benefit all of UK society, responsible development is crucial. Urgent implementation of AI education at all levels is needed for equitable benefits, and particularly so for the most marginalised.”
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Prof. Khareghani added: "The new Responsible AI (RAI) programme is a great opportunity to not only join up but properly and globally showcase the incredible research and advances being made in AI safety research and application from across the UK."
*Info: UKRI