AMI Research Awards 2024

Update 8/31: Applications are currently closed. Decisions for the August 2024 application will be announced via email by October 24, 2024. Please check back in Spring 2025 for details on future application cycles.

At Google, we believe the arts & social sciences can inform new ways of thinking about and working with artificial intelligence. Our Artists + Machine Intelligence (AMI) Research Awards support higher education faculty pursuing arts and social science research related to machine learning (ML) and its implications on society with funding up to $20,000 USD. Starting August 1, we will welcome proposals across three priority research areas:

1. Futures Writing
2. Arts Writing + Criticism
3. Public understanding of AI through literary & visual culture

Futures Writing
Generative AI represents a generational change in how we create, and who can create. We’re looking to support faculty developing imaginative reflections or philosophical meditations on what possible futures with AI might hold socially, ethically, and aesthetically for the arts, archival sciences, or the open web. Faculty are encouraged to submit writing projects in the following formats: articles, books, or short-form writing. Discipline-specific reflections will be prioritized over broader, more generalized approaches.

Arts Writing + Criticism
Arts writing is essential to the development of a dynamic and vibrant art scene and tradition. We’re looking for faculty developing programs and/or curricula to support arts writers and critics in developing technical or historical know-how of generative AI practices to offer new ways to view, appreciate, understand, and enjoy contemporary art made with machine intelligence. Critical approaches to writing about film and new media are eligible.

Public understanding of AI through literary & visual culture
Media vitally shapes public engagement and understanding around AI technologies. We seek proposals from faculty leading science writing, communication, media production or other programs who are investigating the framing of AI in factual and entertainment media, and its impact on the public understanding of AI technologies. Proposals that study how such representations function across media landscapes to create or support mental models of AI (and the underlying conceptual frameworks that drive such representations) are especially welcome, including those that propose new mental models or explore novel conceptual frameworks and representations of AI.

Please note: Outside of the above priority research areas, we continue to welcome proposals on applications and/or implications of AI for the arts and social sciences, including but not limited to music, film, and writing. Arts-based or participatory research methods that envision possibilities of new technologies together with impacted communities are encouraged. Proposals exclusively for the making of ML-focused artworks are not eligible for funding.

AMI Research Awards 2024 Application Preview

The application is structured in three parts: Applicant information, Proposal Body, and Project Budget.

Applicant information

1. Name of principal investigator
2. Principal Investigator’s CV (.pdf, .doc files)
3. University Name / Department / Website
4. Principal investigator’s academic email / physical mailing address
5. Principal investigator’s Google scholar profile, if applicable
6. Contributing investigator(s) & institutions (if any)

Proposal Body

1. Proposal summary, in 150 words or less
2. Research objective(s). What do you hope to learn through this project? How will this project positively impact the arts, social sciences and/or machine learning?
3. Methodology. How will you achieve your research objective(s)?
4. Expected results. How will this work benefit the public and/or other researchers? Please describe any data sets, models, output and/or tools you plan to share, and where / how you’ll do so.

Project Budget

The project budget for this RFP is $20,000 USD. Please share a budget breakdown, detailing expenses. Indirect, administrative, and overhead costs should not be included in the budget. If you’ve already received or expect to receive financial or in-kind support from other organizations, kindly make note in the budget breakdown.

Artists + Machine Intelligence (AMI) is a forward-looking research program at Google dedicated to building and sustaining a field of creative practitioners working with machine learning. We develop visionary artistic voices, push the boundaries of art and code and grow creative industries impacted by AI technologies through funding, mentorship, and collaborative research. Questions? Email artwithmi@google.com

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