Request for Proposals: AMI Research Awards
Supporting faculty pursuing cultural research related to machine learning technologies, in collaboration with Google Research
Applications for the 2021 funding cycle are now closed.
As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to support faculty working on positive societal initiatives, Artists + Machine Intelligence (AMI) supports artists and academics pursuing social science research that looks at technology’s implications and impacts on individuals and society.
Through the current program, AMI provides $20,000 USD fellowships to permanent faculty at degree-granting institutions. Cash awards in this program are structured as unrestricted gifts to universities. Faculty members may apply with supporting collaborators. Both new and ongoing research are eligible. Google does not retain any intellectual property from the research. See the full list of past recipients
2021 Theme
The field of ML research currently confronts challenges that are as much cultural as they are technical. From dataset to deployment, cultural assumptions and processes influence every aspect of ML, yet cultural disciplines aren’t always consulted when research strategies are defined. To this end, we seek to support researchers pursuing cultural research relevant to ML technologies. We encourage proposals from across social science disciplines, including but not limited to: anthropology, architecture, design, history and linguistics with implications for the development of AI technology, especially generative ML, computer vision, and natural language processing. Learn about previously funded research
Eligibility
- This opportunity is open to permanent faculty members at any accredited university around the world.
- A principal investigator must apply in his or her capacity as a university professor and must be able to accept an award through that university.
- Faculty members may apply with supporting collaborators.
- Funding is focused on supporting the faculty’s research. Both new and ongoing research are eligible.
- Cash awards in this program are structured as unrestricted gifts to universities.
- Our funding is structured as unrestricted gifts to degree-granting universities. We cannot process awards to other institutions (e.g. not-for-profit institutions, hospitals, non-degree-granting research institutes, etc.) even if they are affiliated with a university. We do not allow applications from non-degree-granting research institutions.
- Google does not retain any intellectual property from the research.
Upon completion of the grant, we encourage grantees to share results publicly (in the form of open events, online publications, teaching tools, exhibition, etc) and, where appropriate, to make their software, utilities, data sets, or similar artifacts freely available for others to use via open source licenses, publication, etc.
Selection Criteria
Candidates will be selected based on the strength of their proposal; namely:
- Proposal’s ability to uniquely benefit from (and influence) Google’s Research in generative machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing.
- Candidate’s commitment to share results of research publicly
- Match between grant funding and the applicant’s needs
Timeline
Application closes on Monday, June 28, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Successful applicants will be notified in August 2021.
Application Process
Applications are submitted via a Google Form and contain three parts: (1) project overview; (2) proposal body, and (3) project budget.
1. The project overview requests contact information and a CV for the principal investigator.
2. The proposal body requests an abstract, research objectives, a work description, and references. Please also outline a plan to share the output of your project with the broader research communities (e.g. open sourcing code, making data sets public, etc). Please note that this award is structured as an unrestricted gift, so there are no legal requirements once a project is selected for funding.
3. The project budget for this RFP is up to 20,000 USD. Please indicate if you’ve already received or expect to receive financial or in-kind support from other organizations. Indirect, administrative, and overhead costs should not be included in the budget.
Important Information
Educational institutions may have ethics rules that restrict the ability of employees to participate in certain events. By submitting a proposal, the applicant certifies that the entry complies with the institution’s rules and regulations. Successful applicants must also confirm that they can accept the award described in this RFP. By participating in this program, you agree that all award decisions are solely within Google’s discretion. In addition, you agree not to challenge or dispute Google’s decision to make or not make awards.
Please note that Google cannot accept any proposal containing confidential or proprietary information, as such all information included in the proposal will be deemed non-confidential. Google may independently conduct similar development and will own the intellectual property rights in the application(s) or content Google creates.
By submitting this application, you acknowledge that we can use the information you provide in accordance with Google’s Privacy Policy (found at http://www.google.com/privacy.html). In addition, it is our hope that any researcher(s) who benefits from this gift will consider abiding by Google’s AI Principles (http://ai.google/principles).
By accepting an award, entrant agrees and consents to Google and its agencies’ use of entrant’s name and/or likeness for a reasonable time after award of the Research Award in promotional and advertising material of Google (or its agents) as an award recipient.
Applications for the 2021 funding cycle are now closed.
Artists & Machine Intelligence (AMI) is a program at Google that brings together artists, academics and engineers to realize research and projects with machine intelligence. Questions? Feedback? Tweet us or email: artwithmi@google.com
