IUCRC Phase I: Rutgers University: Center for Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Governance (CRAIG)

The Center on Responsible AI and Governance (CRAIG) brings together leading academics, businesses, and government agencies to develop the knowledge and workforce required to pursue artificial intelligence that is safe, accurate, impartial, and accountable. Expert faculty from four universities (Ohio State, Baylor, Northeastern, and Rutgers) and disciplines ranging from computer science to law, business, and the social sciences, work with industry and government partners to identify the most pressing responsible AI challenges and develop scalable solutions and the workforce required to implement them. By advancing trustworthy and responsible AI, CRAIG increases the acceptance and adoption of AI, thereby promoting competitiveness and national security. CRAIG will generate practice-informed research and forward-looking workforce development. CRAIG project teams investigate core questions such as how to design more accurate and safe generative AI systems; which AI governance technologies and strategies best achieve social and business goals; how to audit deployed AI models; how to provide privacy and transparency in smart, sensed environments; and how to engage constructively with ethical challenges pertaining to AI. The research teams’ multiple disciplinary lenses enable them to perceive how technology, law, ethics, and business management interact with and impact one another, and so to generate fresh and practical insights and translational solutions. Rutgers University will leverage its expertise in privacy-preserving edge learning, causal audit methods, and its smart-mobility testbed to strengthen CRAIG’s solutions. In combination with its research efforts, CRAIG educates and trains the next generation of responsible AI professionals. The Center provides students with research experiences, internships, “real world” mentors, and curricular innovations, and current employees with continuing and executive education, in the new and growing field of responsible AI. Northeastern leverages its strength in AI ethics curriculum development, training, and experiential education to help realize these educational aims. Rutgers will draw on its Smart City Practicum, K–12 AI-literacy track, and executive micro-credential programs to build a vertically integrated workforce pipeline for responsible-AI deployment. CRAIG’s research and educational pillars provide businesses and governments with the knowledge and workforce development approaches required to achieve safer and more trustworthy AI. Thus, the project contributes to the building of a more sustainable, prosperous, and secure AI economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.