To address this, Li has been promoting a bill to fund a national AI repository and has been meeting with lawmakers and officials. However, the dominance of tech companies in the field, who are attracting top talent with high salaries and interesting projects, is a significant challenge. Policymakers are taking steps to address the funding gaps, with the National Science Foundation announcing a $140 million investment to launch seven university-led National AI Research Institutes. However, scholars warn that these measures may not be sufficient or timely enough to counter the industry's influence.
Key takeaways:
- Fei-Fei Li, a leading AI researcher, has urged President Biden to fund a national warehouse of computing power and data sets to help academic researchers keep up with tech giants like Meta, Google, and Microsoft.
- The high cost of working with AI models is preventing many researchers from entering the field, leading to a significant gap in resources between tech companies and even the wealthiest universities.
- Li and other advocates argue that the dominance of tech companies in AI research could lead to a focus on profit-driven technology, rather than public goods. They are pushing for new sources of funding and policy changes to address this issue.
- The high salaries offered by tech companies are attracting many AI researchers away from academia, with nearly 70% of AI PhD graduates now going into private industry. This trend, along with the high costs of computing power and data, is leading to concerns about the influence of industry on academic research.