Schmidt Sciences named today 25 scholars working at the forefront of artificial intelligence, including Initiative Co-Director David Autor, as AI2050 fellows. The fellows will be awarded up to $12 million to advance research that fully realizes the potential of AI to benefit humanity.

The AI2050 program asks researchers to imagine the year 2050, where AI has been hugely beneficial, and to pursue projects that help society realize this. The program funds senior researchers and early career scholars for two years to address a wide range of global challenges in AI.

Autor’s fellowship project will clarify how new tools interact with human capabilities to shape employment and earnings. It will leverage real-time data on AI adoption and an experimental design to understand, tangibly, how AI can complement human expertise.

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform our lives for the better, particularly by accelerating scientific progress in profound ways,” said Eric Schmidt, co-chair of the AI2050 program and co-founder with his wife Wendy of Schmidt Sciences. “While the benefits of AI can far outweigh the challenges, realizing this potential requires thoughtful action today. We look forward to seeing how the 2024 AI2050 fellows help shape a future where AI serves the greater good.”

The five senior fellows and 20 early career fellows in the third cohort join an AI2050 community that now includes 71 researchers from 15 different academic disciplines and 37 institutions in seven countries. The researchers are working on projects as varied as using AI to transform drug discovery in Africa, reducing maternal mortality, creating a global “genome” of human values, unlocking mysteries in particle physics, and even completing household chores—all with an emphasis on safety and effectiveness of AI systems.

“The AI2050 program gathers experts across disciplines, continents and career stages to imagine a future that is brighter because of AI,” said James Manyika, co-chair of AI2050 and a senior vice president at Google. “I am excited about the work these fellows will undertake, motivated by our AI2050 challenge to tackle the hard problems associated with achieving beneficial outcomes for society from AI.”

The senior fellows are selected based on existing contributions to the field, and early career fellows occupy postdoctoral or pre-tenture research positions. The fellows come together annually to share their findings and can receive additional support for collaborative projects.

“We are delighted to welcome a new class of fellows to AI2050,” said Mark Greaves, executive director of AI2050. “With the exponential growth in the speed of AI development, the AI2050 community plays a critical role in answering the challenges and seizing the opportunities that AI presents for our world.”