---
title: "MIT Pledges $1 Billion to Develop Ethical AI"
description: "MIT announced a billion-dollar initiative Monday that will reorganize the tech school to confront the rise of artificial intelligence."
date: "2018-10-15"
modified: "2018-10-15"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-billion-ethical-ai"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "education"
  - "mit"
  - "the digest"
---

# MIT Pledges $1 Billion to Develop Ethical AI

![MIT announced a billion-dollar initiative Monday that will reorganize the tech school to confront the rise of artificial intelligence.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mit-billion-ethical-ai.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://openlearning.mit.edu/file/mit-campus2jpg" target="\_blank"\>MIT\</a\>\</em\>*

## Machine Learning

When one of the most influential technical research institutions on the planet claims a new technology could badly misfire, you might want to listen.

On Monday, officials from the venerable Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced a billion-dollar initiative to confront the rise of artificial intelligence. According to university administrators, this will involve supporting deep interdisciplinary research into both AI's promise and its ethical perils — even remaking the school's internal organization around the project.

"As computing reshapes our world, MIT intends to help make sure it does so for the good of all," said MIT President Leo Reif in a [blog post](<http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-reshapes-itself-stephen-schwarzman-college-of-computing-1015>). "In keeping with the scope of this challenge, we are reshaping MIT."

## New School

A $350 million donation from Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of private equity firm The Blackstone Group, will fund part of the reorganization.

MIT says it will use these donated funds to help launch the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, a new school designed to "educate students in every discipline to responsibly use and develop AI and computing technologies to help make a better world."

MIT will also use the money to create 50 new faculty positions, both at the new college and in interdisciplinary positions elsewhere at the institute.

## Future Shock

Ethical AI could [make the world safer](<https://futurism.com/category/advanced-transport>) and [free up creative thinkers](<https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence-automating-hollywood-art>) from mundane tasks. Conversely, not-so-ethical AI could [upend the job market](<https://futurism.com/un-artificial-intelligence-could-destabilize-world-through-unemployment-and-war>), [increase economic disparity](<https://futurism.com/automation-may-lead-to-a-workless-future-for-humans-heres-how-we-can-cope>), and [lead to destructive new tools of war](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/un-military-killer-robots>).

In the face of that promise and peril, MIT's project is a heartening sign that at least one prominent institution is taking seriously its responsibility to chart an ethical course into AI's strange future.

**READ MORE:** [MIT Reshapes Itself to Shape the Future](<http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-reshapes-itself-stephen-schwarzman-college-of-computing-1015>) \[MIT\]

***More on artificial intelligence: [When Will We Have Artificial Intelligence As Smart as a Human? Here’s What Experts Think](<https://futurism.com/human-level-artificial-intelligence-agi>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)