How can we quantify the value and the pace of progress in the fields of AI and machine learning? How can we keep track of all of the advances in academia, industry, and in the public sector? What does it all mean for society and for workers?
The AI Index is a new initiative designed to track, collate, distill and visualize data relating to artificial intelligence. The Index–created as part of the Stanford 100 Year Study on AI— is an open, not-for-profit project to follow ongoing activity and progress in AI. It aims to “facilitate an informed conversation about AI that is grounded in data.” Ideally, it will be a “comprehensive resource of data and analysis” for policymakers, researchers, executives, journalists, and others to better understand the complex field of AI.
MIT IDE Director, Erik Brynjolfsson, is a member of the report’s steering committee along with Yoav Shoham, of Stanford University, Raymond Perrault ,of SRI International, and Jack Clark, of OpenAI.
The team has published the first AI Index 2017 Report as “a starting point for the conversation about rigorously measuring activity and progress in AI in the future.” It seeks participation and collaboration from all interested parties.
In addition, an Expert Forum was created to interpret and enhance the data. Daniela Rus, who heads MIT CSAIL, is a member of this Forum. According to Rus, “The AI index is defining intelligence tasks and measuring the performance of the most advanced AI systems for those tasks. It also provides a framework for education in AI and for grand challenges in AI.”
Read media coverage here and here.