Morgan State University could receive $2 million to develop a new artificial intelligence research center under legislation advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
The legislation — requested by Maryland congressman, Dutch Ruppersberger — was passed in the Commerce, Justice and Science Related Agencies (CJS) subcommittee and must now go before the House Committee on Appropriations for consideration.
If approved, the funding for the school's Center for Equitable Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be a part of the CJS Appropriations for the 2023 fiscal year.
Larry Jones, the university’s assistant vice president of public relations, said the university would allocate the funding to equipment — including a computer lab and workstations — as well as other resources for the center. Morgan anticipates that the new center will be housed in the Northwood Commons development nearby.
The center will address “algorithmic biases” within AI, and will work with the community to guide its research priorities, Jones added.
Ruppersberger, a Democrat, said in a release that the new center’s goal of addressing inequities in AI is part of the historically Black university’s tradition of promoting social justice in underserved communities.
The new center is a part of Morgan’s goal to become a premier research university, and comes shortly after the university revealed plans to demolish part of a former hospital complex to make room for a new, for-profit, private medical school.
David Wilson, president of Morgan State University, said in a statement that the center will help students “solve complex real-world problems and address the potential bias that exists in the technology we have come to depend upon.”
