Google awarded five seed grants to faculty members at KAUST to support research in AI in Saudi Arabia

To encourage artificial intelligence research in Saudi Arabia, Google recently gave five seed grants to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology faculty members. 

The awards, totaling $100,000, will support research projects that employ large language models (LLMs) and generative approaches to multilingual, multimodal machine learning. 

Researchers from KAUST's Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) division will investigate subjects including health, education, sustainability, privacy, and cross-cultural language comprehension. The awards are a part of Google's larger initiatives to promote global AI research and development.

Google's head of public policy for Saudi Arabia, Sarah Al Husseini, stressed the company's dedication to enabling regional academics and organisations to create solutions that would help citizens, companies, and governments in an AI-driven world.

The announcement of the funding and the creation of a new Centre of Excellence in Generative AI at KAUST, chaired by Ghanem, coincide. The center's mission is to build and expedite the Kingdom's leading edge in generative AI research and development.