Browse objectives

Drive fundamental advancements in next-generation AI solutions.

• Invest in cutting-edge research labs focusing on emerging technologies for AI, including mathematical foundations, computer systems, hardware-algorithm co-design, advanced machine learning, energy-efficient computing, and quantum computing.
• Attract and retain top-tier faculty engaging in cutting-edge AI research advancement, including scholars that are pushing the boundaries of AI and machine learning capabilities, leading in their insight in identifying and creating responsible AI solutions, and engaging in considerations of how AI-based technologies impact society and human existence.
• Secure major investments to support AI research projects and infrastructure development, and leverage strategic partnerships to propel Rice to the forefront of AI research and innovation.
• Actively engage in global AI research collaborations.

Elevate interdisciplinary AI research to design and implement AI solutions and AI-related products that address pressing global challenges.

• Create interdisciplinary teams to tackle complex problems through ethical and efficient AI applications across Rice’s research mission, with a particular focus on the three research imperatives — Sustainable Futures, Thriving Urban Communities, and Health Innovations, building on the Ken Kennedy Institute and scholars in the academic schools.
• Establish partnerships with industry, healthcare institutions, NASA, and educational and community organizations to design domain-specific ethical AI solutions to pressing issues faced by partner organizations.
• Drive fundamental AI-based innovations in the foundational sciences, humanistic studies, and creative arts.
• Advance the goals for a sustainable future by deploying AI technologies to solve energy and environmental challenges and by advancing the development of efficient AI technologies.
• Develop AI-based solutions to address challenges related to urban development and community resilience, and to design cities of the future that are resilient, adaptive, and equitable.
• Create a rich ecosystem of collaborators that come together across the campus to identify and create innovative, solutions-driven applications of AI with a full understanding of the social implications.

Establish Rice as a hub for defining responsible AI and advancing our understanding of the ethical and societal impact of emerging and disruptive technologies.

• Develop ethical practices of AI and position AI in historical contexts of technology development.
• Influence and formulate policies governing AI development and use that promote solutions-based applications of responsible AI, drawing on the expertise of scholars in the academic schools and the Baker Institute.
• Advance the goals for a sustainable future by deploying AI technologies to solve energy and environmental challenges and by advancing the development of efficient AI technologies.
• Position Rice as a leading institution in national and international committees on responsibility and safety in AI.
• Foster collaboration with major entities in Houston to leverage local expertise and resources.

Lead responsible AI education by providing cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary educational programs in responsible AI.

• Develop degree and certificate programs to cultivate a skilled workforce aligned with the demands of the industry, organizations, and policymakers.
• Develop curricula that integrates responsible AI across disciplines for undergraduate and graduate students.
• Offer an array of courses that explore AI comprehensively — its technical dimensions as well as the ethics of responsible AI, AI policies, the historical evolution of the discipline, and its applications and their impact on the human experience.
• Establish partnerships with industry for internships and practical experience opportunities.
• Create professional development seminars for faculty on the use of AI in courses and develop tools to assist faculty in incorporating AI in courses.