Tuesday, 22 October 2024
A leading AI researcher from the University of Nottingham has been awarded £6m to lead bold new work aiming to help AI better enable humans to make meaning of the themselves and the world, and AI itself by combining art and the body.
Professor Steve Benford from the University of Nottingham’s School of Computer Science has been awarded a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowship. He is one of three new fellows, supported through a £15 million UKRI investment.
The scheme is designed to retain, attract and develop the best and brightest AI researchers and allows them to undertake world-leading, innovative AI research in collaboration with partners from other sectors to accelerate its impact.
Professor Benford’s research will explore how AI can be embodied in a way that meaningfully connects to our own human bodies. He will collaborate with award-winning artists to create and study a series of robotic artworks, from robots that embrace and groom humans, to ones that dance and play music with them.
By investigating these systems using an artistic lens he aims to create AI that embraces ambiguity, evokes interpretation, and embraces improvisation. The touring artworks supported through the fellowship will inspire the creative industries with new forms of cultural experience, while engaging the public to reflect on the future role of AI in society, especially on how it might become more inclusive.
Professor Benford says: “This Turing Fellowship will allow me and the teams I work with to not only undertake new, exciting research into AI but also to take that research out to the public to enhance understanding and engagement with this fast-paced technology. We plan to take our landmark artworks on tour internationally, reaching audiences around the world."
We plan to engage the public to reflect on the future role of AI in society, especially on how it might become more inclusive. And they will help position the UK as a leader in creative AI.
The UKRI fellowships are delivered through the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said: “To ensure that we capitalise on the enormous potential of AI and also ensure that it serves the needs of society we need to support bold thinking.
“That is what the UKRI Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowships are all about, allowing adventurous thinkers from the UK and across the world to thrive and develop ideas that will benefit us all.”
The three new fellows are the latest leading AI researchers to be supported through the Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowships initiative.
This programme highlights the very best of British innovation as we back new research in areas which will deliver truly transformative innovations for people not just in the UK, but across the globe.
Whether that’s new avenues for tackling climate change, improving how we diagnose horrendous diseases like cancer, or rolling out cutting edge tools in our hospitals to support our healthcare professionals, we’re leaving no stone unturned in harnessing AI to improve our health, modernise our public services, and face down some of society’s biggest shared challenges.
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More information is available from Professor Steve Benford on Steve.Benford@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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