USC to Help Lead $20 Million National AI Initiative

USC researchers will help lead the next phase of a national artificial intelligence institute aimed at improving power grids, manufacturing and supply chains under a $20 million grant announced Tuesday by the National Science Foundation. The NSF awarded the funding to renew the Artificial Intelligence Institute for Advances in Optimization, known as AI4OPT, through 2031. The institute is led by Georgia Tech in partnership with USC and UC Berkeley. USC will receive $5.6 million, more than twice the funding it received during the institute's first phase, and will expand its research team from two members to five, according to the university. The institute combines artificial intelligence with optimization, a field focused on determining the best course of action when time, resources and other factors are limited. Researchers hope to develop systems capable of navigating uncertainty and making complex decisions as conditions change. Potential applications include helping utilities balance increasingly complex power grids, manufacturers adjust production and supply-chain operators respond to shortages and disruptions. 'This renewal allows us to dig deeper into AI and optimization, moving basic science toward real-world applications that make a tangible difference in society,' said Bistra Dilkina, a co-principal investigator of AI4OPT and associate professor of computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Over the next five years, researchers will study how AI and optimization can be combined to address problems that neither field could solve as effectively on its own and move the resulting research into large-scale applications. Georgia Tech professor Pascal Van Hentenryck will continue as the institute's lead principal investigator, with Dilkina and UC Berkeley professor Alper Atamtí¼rk serving as co-principal investigators. 'By fusing AI and optimization, AI4OPT is changing how we solve energy, supply chain and manufacturing challenges that are at the core of society,' Van Hentenryck said. USC's expanded team will include faculty from the Viterbi School of Engineering, the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence and the USC Marshall School of Business, officials said. The renewed institute will also expand education efforts. USC plans to bring the Seth Bonder summer camp in computational and data science for engineering to high school students in Los Angeles. AI4OPT's educational programs also include graduate education and faculty training. The institute previously helped spur the creation at USC of a doctoral specialization and certificate combining artificial intelligence and optimization. 'With an expanded team and increased support, USC is excited to collaborate with our partners to push boundaries and amplify our collective strengths,' Dilkina said.