Schmidt Futures Contributes $148m to Quicken AI Use in Research

Recently, Schmidt Futures presented a $148M global initiative, referred to as the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, to hasten scientific advancement by using AI in research across the four major domains of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The Fellowship contributes to Schmidt Futures’ efforts adding up to $400M to support talent designing and employing AI in pioneering ways to promote a better life on Earth.

New approaches in advanced computing and AI are progressively contributing to ground-breaking tools in scientific exploration and discovery. However, the present adoption of AI in engineering and scientific study is sluggish, disproportionately distributed, and inconsistent.

Improving the shared insight and application of AI in STEM fields can change how scientists look at questions and solve issues, enhancing analysis and boosting automation, thereby expanding the scope and increasing the research speed.

The Fellowship will strive to modify how science is performed by hastening the addition of AI methods into the engineering, natural sciences, and mathematical science, offering access to AI tools and training to minds on the frontlines of scientific advancement.

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, will initially back around 160 postdoctoral fellows covering nine universities worldwide each year to study and apply AI techniques to their research. The Fellowship will then expand to more continents and countries.

Each university will choose a new cohort of up to 20 Fellows yearly for up to six years. Universities taking part in the program will offer cutting-edge AI training, sponsored research support, and professional development openings, both to structure research for their departments and to assist in building an international network of AI-skilled researchers.

Increasing the Schmidt Futures portfolio of AI programs such as AI Accelerator, AI2050, and more. This Fellowship will widen the range of human capabilities by assisting new methodologies to scientific discovery and revolution through the rapid combination of AI approaches toward STEM research.

The Fellowship hopes to create improvements across various scientific fields, from developing new drugs to combat disease to spotting some of the faintest objects in the solar system to helping the production and storage of energy more efficiently.

Scientific innovation today is too often defined by new use cases for existing technologies or refining previous advancements, rather than the creation of entirely new fields of discovery. This is why we need to accelerate the next global scientific revolution—by supporting broad and deep incorporation of AI techniques into scientific and engineering research.

Eric Schmidt, Co-Founder, Schmidt Futures

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship lines up with the vision of Schmidt Futures.

A charitable initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Futures bets early on extraordinary people improving the world by forming a network of minds on Earth, helping them to solve problems in science and society by linking them across fields, fetching numerous types of capital to bear, and applying advanced tools and technology considerately.

AI is already revolutionary—but it is not yet as accessible, equitable, or interdisciplinary as it needs to be. By supporting postdoctoral candidates around the world in fields beyond computer science, we hope to create a community that can develop and improve this technology and find novel ways to apply it in solving some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Wendy Schmidt, Co-Founder, Schmidt Futures

Wendy Schmidt is also the president of The Schmidt Family Foundation.

In its maiden year, the program is assisting universities spanning the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore, with strategies to expand to more countries soon. The first group of universities includes:

• National University of Singapore
• Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• The University of Toronto
• University of Chicago
• Cornell University
• University of California San Diego
• University of Michigan
• University of Oxford
• Imperial College London

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, will create an immediate acceleration of AI applications across several disciplines. The Fellowship will provide these postdoctoral fellows with the advanced tools to increase the scope and speed of their research while discovering new and innovative use cases for AI within their field and create an ecosystem of scientific networks that will support them and their work.

Stuart Feldman, Chief Scientist, Schmidt Futures