UC ANR joins new artificial intelligence institute

I am very pleased to announce that with a $20 million award from the National Science Foundation and several federal agencies, UC ANR is collaborating with UC Davis and other institutions to create a new artificial intelligence institute for next-generation food systems.

The farming/food industry is experiencing a technology revolution. Digital, biological and mechanical innovations are being applied to solve long-standing challenges such as the impacts of climate change, ensuring food and nutrition security, and sustainable and profitable crop production. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be applied to most of these innovations, as they all have one common attribute: they produce and consume large amounts of data. AI is a way to put the large amount of data we have to work for us, making computers and machines smarter and more effective.

The USDA-NSF AI for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS) puts UC ANR in a leading role with UC Davis, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cornell in developing AI-based technology for the food system, but,perhaps more importantly, in applying them in real-world situations, training a next-generation workforce, and engaging the public in their value.

UC ANR staff and academics will have the opportunity to engage with AIFS through virtual and live events, research, extension and commercialization projects, workforce development activities and more. In many ways, AIFS will be a new support center for UC ANR staff and academics, helping to provide the latest training and tools for UC ANR's Cooperative Extension and outreach activities in California and beyond.

Gabe Youtsey, UC ANR chief innovation officer and Maggi Kelly, director of UC ANR's Informatics and GIS program, will be the primary UC ANR contacts for AIFS. In the coming weeks, AIFS will provide further information about events and ways to engage. Please reach out to gdyoutsey@ucanr.edu to express your interest in getting more information as AIFS is launched.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Ilias Tagkopoulos, right, professor in the UC Davis Department of Computer Science and Genome Center, is director of the new AI institute.

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