MIT Unveils Generative AI Consortium, Awards 55 Seed Grants

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has formally launched the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium, a cross-campus initiative aimed at accelerating high-impact applications of generative artificial intelligence. The consortium issued a call for ideas earlier this year and received 180 proposals from nearly 250 faculty members spanning all five MIT schools and the Schwarzman College of Computing. Fifty-five projects have been selected for inaugural seed grants, with additional proposals to be funded by the consortium’s founding corporate members. Projects highlighted at a 13 May kickoff event included AI-driven literacy tutors for pre-K to grade-7 students, real-time ‘jam_bot’ collaborators for live musical improvisation, and GENIUS, a platform that benchmarks city climate policies using generative models. Chief innovation and strategy officer Anantha P. Chandrakas an described the response as "an incredible testament to the energy and creativity that MGAIC has sparked at MIT." Georgia Perakis, interim dean of MIT Sloan, said the university is "at the front edge of a historic moment" and has a responsibility to shape generative AI "with purpose, with excellence, and with care."