Malte Jung, associate professor of information science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, along with two Cornell alumni, are among the recipients of the inaugural round of seed grant from the Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law and Society (TRAILS). The eight funded projects, totaling just over $1.5 million, will advance cutting-edge research and scholarship that spans AI design, development and governance.

TRAILS is a multi-institutional effort that launched in May 2023 with a $20 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with a mission to transform the practice of AI from one driven primarily by technological innovation to one that is driven by ethics, human rights, and input and feedback from communities whose voices have previously been marginalized. It includes faculty members from Cornell, the University of Maryland, George Washington University and Morgan State University, and private sector organizations. Valerie Reyna, the Lois and Melvin Tukman Professor of Human Development, leads Cornell’s contribution to TRAILS. 

The seed grant program aims to bring a greater diversity of stakeholders into the development and governance of artificial intelligence systems and improve their trustworthiness, accessibility and efficacy. The eight grants — ranging from $100K to $150K apiece and totaling just over $1.5 million — were awarded to interdisciplinary teams of faculty associated with the institute. Funded projects include developing AI chatbots to assist with smoking cessation, designing animal-like robots that can improve autism-specific support at home, and exploring how people use and rely upon AI-generated language translation systems.

“We are extremely pleased with the first round of projects,” said Valerie Reyna, the Lois and Melvin Tukman Professor of Human Development in the College of Human Ecology and leader of Cornell’s contribution to TRAILS. “Drs. Peng, Gao and Jung’s project epitomizes the potential of values-driven AI to improve human lives, while building trust and accountability.”

All eight projects fall under the broader mission of TRAILS, which is to transform the practice of AI from one driven primarily by technological innovation to one that is driven by ethics, human rights, and input and feedback from communities whose voices have previously been marginalized.

Jung will work with Huaishu Peng, Ph.D. ’19, and Ge Gao, Ph.D. ’17, who are both assistant professors at the University of Maryland, to explore miniaturized on-body or desktop robotic systems that can enable the exchange of nonverbal cues between blind and sighted people. They will also examine multiple factors — both physical and mental — to gain a deeper understanding of both groups’ values related to teamwork facilitated by embodied AI. 

Visit the TRAILS website to read more about the seed grants and all the funded projects.