AI Institute: Planning: Physics of the Future

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Physics applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have led to some of the most exciting recent breakthroughs, from astrophysics to regulatory genomics and cellular imaging. Scientists at Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) in Machine Learning, Statistics, and other departments actively collaborate with colleagues in the Department of Physics because of the opportunity for each field to spur development in the other. This award will allow planning of a joint Physics/AI Institute that will bring cutting edge methods from AI into a broad range of physics areas, propagate successful methods from one field of Physics to another, and facilitate back-transfer from the data-rich sub-fields of physics to AI development. This planning phase focuses on areas where CMU scientists are already leaders, with existing strong collaborations, and where rapid advances are being made: astrophysics, subatomic physics, and biophysics. AI has obvious benefits to society in general, so this project includes education, public outreach and promotion of diversity, empowering a wide range of audiences to use AI on a broad array of data. Applying AI will lead to significant advances in the areas of dark energy and galaxy formation; new ways of extracting information about the Higgs bosons and anomalies in gluon physics; and enhanced understanding of biological networks and predictions for cancerous tissues. Benefits in the other direction are clear as well: physics provides complex use cases and profound problems that motivate AI researchers to advance foundational AI. Planning activities include weekly interdisciplinary, interactive seminars; a visitor program; topical conferences; planning conferences; a graduate student summer program; postdoc mentoring; and an extensive outreach program. Help in planning to scale up to the Institute level will come from partners at universities, national laboratories, and corporations, and by employing a consultant to survey and quantitatively assess the success of different programs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.