UC Berkeley joins NSF-backed AI institute for cybersecurity

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a sweeping effort to address risks and advance the science and technology and broad applications of artificial intelligence, involving universities across the nation. The $140 million investment will establish seven new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes (AI Institutes).

Five UC Berkeley faculty members will join one of the key institutions, the AI Institute for Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation (ACTION). Dawn Song, computer science professor and co-director of the UC Berkeley Center on Responsible Decentralized Intelligence, will act as principal investigator for the Berkeley team. She’ll be joined by electrical engineering and computer sciences professor Stuart Russell on the executive committee, as well as by professors Pieter Abbeel, David Wagner and Bin Yu.

“With the exciting advancement of AI and machine learning technologies, it is a really exciting opportunity to leverage such advancement to address issues in cybersecurity and push forward the frontier in cybersecurity as well,” said Song. “The center provides a great platform to amplify the research that each of us does to build something greater.”

Led by Giovanni Vigna at the University of California, Santa Barbara, this institute will focus on using AI to protect against sophisticated, ever-changing security threats. With a fund of nearly $20 million over 5 years, the team of researchers will collaborate with partners in industry.

“UC Berkeley’s team aims to develop both new foundational technologies in learning and reasoning, as well as their novel applications in the cybersecurity domain, to significantly improve state-of-the-art technologies throughout the life cycle of cyber defense,” said Song.

The broad effort also includes researchers from Purdue University; Georgia Institute of Technology; the University of Chicago; University of Washington; University of Illinois Chicago; Rutgers University; Norfolk State University; University of Illinois and University of Virginia.

Today’s announcement comes shortly after the Biden-Harris administration unveiled plans to “promote responsible American innovation in artificial intelligence.” On Thursday, the president met with CEOs of top AI companies to discuss dangers with the technology.