Making AI Safer: Texas A&M Joins National Consortium, Texas A&M Today, 02/28/2024
New NIST Consortium to Develop Standards and Best Practices for AI Safety.
Texas A&M University is collaborating with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium to develop science-based and empirically backed guidelines and standards for AI measurement and policy, laying the foundation for AI safety across the world. This Consortium will help prepare the U.S. to address the capabilities of the next generation of AI models or systems, from frontier models to new applications and approaches, with appropriate risk management strategies. At the launch event for the consortium, Elham Tabassi, Chief AI Advisor for NIST, said: “The US AISI will advance American leadership globally in responsible AI innovations that will make our lives better. We must have a firm understanding of the technology, its current and emerging capabilities, and limitations”. Read the press release from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for more information.
Texas A&M Joins the Inaugural Cohort
Texas A&M membership in US AISIC is coordinated by Dr. Nick Duffield, Director of the Texas A&M Institute of Data Science (TAMIDS) and holder of the Royce E. Wisenbaker Professorship I in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University. According to Dr. Duffield, “Texas A&M applauds NIST’s establishment of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium. Our researchers look forward to contributing to the development of best practices to support responsible adoption of AI and underpin confidence in innovative products and services enabled by exciting advances in AI.”
Texas A&M AISIC Team Members
Texas A&M’s consortium team represents the university’s deep bench in Artificial Intelligence research, encompassing the study of algorithmic fairness; interpretable and explicable AI; safe and trustworthy AI; human-AI teaming; social ramifications of AI usage; governance and policies for ethical and responsible AI usage; and professional training programs to promote knowledge of AI methodologies and best practices.
- Nick Duffield, Director, Texas A&M Institute of Data Science and Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
- Keith Biggers, Director, Texas A&M Center for Applied Technology
- James Caverlee, Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
- Dhruva Chakravorty, Director for User Services and Research, High Performance Research Computing
- Fallon Cochlin, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Health Policy and Management
- Ruihong Huang, Associate Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
- Hye Chung Kum, Professor, Health Policy and Management
- Nitesh Saxena, Associate Director, Texas A&M Global Cyber Research Institute and Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
- Cason Schmit, Director, Program in Health Law and Policy
- Lu Tang, Professor, Department of Communication & Journalism
- Tianbo Yang, Associate Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
- Xinyue Ye, Director, Center for Geospatial Sciences, Applications, and Technology and Professor, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
- Suin Yi, Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
The Texas A&M team will contribute to the US AISIC’s five working groups focusing on risk management for generative AI, the use and detection of synthetic content, benchmarks and testbeds for evaluating potentially harmful AI capabilities, guidelines for adversarial evaluation through red-teaming, and stress-testing AI models that pose potential security risks. While the consortium will develop standards and best practices, NIST does not evaluate commercial products under this Consortium and does not endorse any product or service used. Additional information on this Consortium can be found at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/02/2023-24216/artificial-intelligence-safety-institute-consortium.
Texas A&M researchers interested in contributing to the Consortium’s work should contact Dr. Nick Duffield, TAMIDS Director, by email at duffieldng@tamu.edu.