Netflix’s Reed Hastings Gives $50 Million to Bowdoin for A.I. Program
The New York Times
The Netflix co-founder said he wanted his alma mater to become a leader in studying the consequences, and guiding beneficial uses, of artificial intelligence.
The Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings wants more researchers and students to ask deep questions about artificial intelligence and its potential to upend human norms.
To that end, Mr. Hastings has donated $50 million to Bowdoin College, his alma mater, to create a research initiative on “A.I. and Humanity” — the largest gift to the liberal arts college in Maine since its founding in 1794, the school announced on Monday.
The aim of the program, Mr. Hastings and school officials said, is to make Bowdoin a mecca for studying the risks and consequences of A.I. The initiative also aims to help prepare students to grapple with emerging technologies that can manufacture humanlike texts and even produce formulas for potential new drug compounds.
The idea for the program grew out of discussions over the last few months between Mr. Hastings and Bowdoin’s president, Safa R. Zaki, a cognitive scientist, they said. Bowdoin plans to use part of the money to hire 10 faculty members and to support professors “who want to incorporate and interrogate A.I.” in their teaching and research.
In an interview, Mr. Hastings said it was urgent for more researchers to tackle such questions because of the speed of A.I. advances and the significant disruptions the systems could bring to human endeavors like work and relationships.
“We’re going to be fighting for the survival of humanity and the flourishing of humanity,” Mr. Hastings said. He compared A.I. to social networks, noting that social networking had grown so fast that few people initially understood the changes it might bring to human interactions and behavior.
