Leigh Engineering Faculty Boulevard, Tel Aviv University. Photo: Ido Perelmutter via Wikimedia Commons.

CTech – Tel Aviv University announced on Tuesday the establishment of Israel’s first academic branch for artificial intelligence and data science to train the next generation of researchers and industrialists to cope with the expanding and increasing sophistication of those sectors.

The new Multidisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science (DS), will be headed by Prof. Meir Feder of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, and will strive to boost academic research in the areas of AI and deep science. As the world’s technology becomes more sophisticated and complex, AI will require different architecture and systems will demand stronger computational ability. The center was launched during TAU’s annual AI Week, which is taking place this week between Tuesday and Thursday.

“Our new multidisciplinary centers will further extend the scope of research, combining different disciplines, from engineering and computer science through life sciences, medicine, and psychology; to economics, management, humanities, arts, and law,” said TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat.

Feder, who will head the center, said that “the AI revolution is expected to impact our way of life in every aspect, from drug development and data-based personalized medicine, to defense and security systems, financial systems, scientific discoveries, robotics, autonomous systems, and social issues. Therefore, it’s very important to train human capital in this area,” and added that it will promote multidisciplinary research collaborations with other universities around the world as well as with local military and public institutions in the industry. Next month, the AI Center will collaborate with Google’s Israel branch on the company’s “AI for Social Good” project.

“The various learning algorithms, together with the enormous increase in computational power, are already beginning to penetrate all areas of our lives, and understanding them requires proficiency not only in the ‘natural’ technological disciplines — such as computer science, mathematics, and engineering; but also in the social, legal, business, and even philosophical aspects,” Prof. Itzik Ben Israel, Head of the Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology, and Security said.