NSF Taps Northeastern University to Study Impact of Generative AI Use on Society

The National Science Foundation and Northeastern University are collaborating to better understand the long-term impact of using generative artificial intelligence and large language models on society.

Under a $9 million grant, the higher education institution’s research work will contribute to the National Deep Inference Fabric, a platform that offers students and researchers access to a wide range of neural networks.

Commenting on the future contribution of the NDIF, David Bau, principal investigator and assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University, said that the platform democratizes and promotes transparency in accessing the largest LLM in a cost-effective model, NSF .gov reported.

The collaboration to better understand the impact of generative AI on society comes as more people around the world are exposed to the technology. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 23 percent of adults in the United States have used ChatGPT for a wide range of applications.

The use of generative AI-enabled solutions is nothing new to the NSF. CIO Dorothy Aronson shared in March 2023 that the agency is studying the potential uses and disadvantages associated with ChatGPT.