The world’s first research center devoted to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in aviation has been established by Windracers, a pioneer in autonomous air travel, in collaboration with Purdue University. Today’s opening of the Center on AI for Digital, Autonomous and Augmented Aviation (AIDA3) represents a significant advancement in the research and use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related technologies.

Since its founding in 2017, Windracers has significantly contributed to the decrease in the price of providing humanitarian aid by using cutting-edge design and manufacturing techniques. Thanks to its in-house Masterless autopilot system, the company’s ULTRA UAV—which is renowned for its adaptability and ease of maintenance—runs without the need for a remote pilot. The British Antarctic Survey and the Royal Navy are just two of the prominent organizations that have used the UAV, which is designed to operate in harsh environments, to demonstrate its dependability through long-term autonomous flights.

Windracers’ founder and executive chairman, Stephen Wright, revealed his excitement for the new project: “We are incredibly excited to launch this groundbreaking AI center with Purdue University, a highly respected academic institution whose alumni include the first and most recent humans to step on the moon.” We want to make the aviation industry completely automated and low-cost by taking another enormous step forward,” he said.

In order to improve capabilities ranging from demand analytics to real-time weather prediction, AIDA3 will investigate the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in autonomous systems. With potential to have a big impact on other industries and commercial logistics, the center aims to increase the scalability and efficiency of self-flying aircraft operations.

Sabine Brunswicker, AIDA3 director and Purdue professor, highlighted the current challenges and the center’s mission: Existing AI/ML models are not sufficiently reliable to close the loop from data to actions in the real-world that is safe, trustworthy, and scalable, she explained. “Currently, it can take 10 people to operate one UAV. It is time for one operator to be able to coordinate 100 UAVs at the same time. Our mission is to go beyond current AI/ML models where the potential benefits of smarter UAVs can be fully realized globally.”

As part of the partnership, Windracers will receive support for research and development in the US market. Two of its ULTRA UAVs will be provided by the company for continuous testing at Purdue University Airport, which is well-known for being Amelia Earhart’s research base. The development of autonomous flight technologies will be aided by these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), named Armstrong and Earhart.

As a component of Purdue University’s Institute for Physical Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), AIDA3 aims to develop novel solutions by fusing artificial intelligence with the physical world.

A new project to advance generative AI for businesses has been made public by the Linux Foundation.

The Open Platform for Enterprise AI is the latest project undertaken by the LF AI & Data Foundation (OPEA). It is positioned as a Sandbox Project, acting as a trial run for the newest concepts and innovations from the Foundation.

Significantly, it is supported by top organizations in the field of AI development and application, such as Anyscale, Cloudera, DataStax, Domino Data Lab, Hugging Face, Intel, KX, MariaDB Foundation, Minio, Qdrant, Red Hat, SAS, VMware, Yellowbrick Data, Zilliz, and more.

Leaders in the Industry Pledge to Improve GenAI

In a press release, the organization stated that the main goal of the LF AI & Data Foundation is to foster an open community for AI and data. By providing greater opportunities for collaboration, it hopes to “drive open source innovation in the AI and data domains.”

With a focus on open model development and the hardened and optimized support of multiple compilers and toolchains, Ibrahim Haddad, Executive Director for LF AI & Data, expressed excitement about the project’s potential to speed up AI integration among enterprises: “We’re thrilled to welcome OPEA to LF AI & Data with the promise to open source, standardized, modular, and heterogenous Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines for enterprises.”

In addition, Haddad stated, “OPEA will open up new possibilities in AI by developing a comprehensive, modular framework that leads technology stacks.”

The new initiative’s launch, according to the Linux Foundation, is highly appropriate given the rapid advancements in GenAI technology in recent years, which have resulted in a fragmentation of tools, techniques, and solutions that require attention.

In the face of global pressure to advance democratized AI, the Foundation is confident that it can create equal opportunities through standardizing elements such as reference solutions, architecture blueprints, and frameworks.

As the two countries seek to enhance cooperation around the rapidly advancing technology, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have enlisted Amazon.com Inc. and Nvidia Corp. to fund a new joint artificial intelligence research program.

A senior US official briefed reporters prior to Wednesday’s official visit at the White House, stating that the $50 million project will be a collaborative effort between Tsukuba University outside of Tokyo and the University of Washington in Seattle. A separate collaborative AI research program between Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Tokyo’s Keio University is also being planned by the two nations.

The push for greater research into artificial intelligence comes as the Biden administration is weighing a series of new regulations designed to minimize the risks of AI technology, which has developed as a key focus for tech companies. The White House announced late last month that federal agencies have until the end of the year to determine how they will assess, test, and monitor the impact of government use of AI technology.

In addition to the university-led projects, Microsoft Corp. announced on Tuesday that it would invest $2.9 billion to expand its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Japan. Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, met with Kishida on Tuesday. The company released a statement announcing its intention to establish a new AI and robotics lab in Japan.

Kishida, the second-largest economy in Asia, urged American business executives to invest more in Japan’s developing technologies on Tuesday.

“Your investments will enable Japan’s economic growth — which will also be capital for more investments from Japan to the US,” Kishida said at a roundtable with business leaders in Washington.