The OpenAI Foundation awarded the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs a $10 million grant to develop AI-powered weather forecasting tools.
The Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale initiative, which is part of the school, will use the funds to help millions of small farmers predict weather events.
“Artificial intelligence is creating extraordinary new possibilities for farmers, but innovation alone is not enough,” said Paul Winters, the Keough-Hesburgh professor of sustainable development at the University of Notre Dame and executive director of AIM for Scale, in a press release. “The real challenge is ensuring that these tools become part of systems that can sustainably reach millions of farmers based in low- and middle-income countries. This funding gives us an opportunity to work with governments to translate rapid advances in AI into services that farmers can rely on year after year.”
The grant is part of the OpenAI Foundation's $60 million commitment to expand AI-powered forecasting for farmers. AIM for Scale is one of the initiative's partner organizations. Others include the University of Chicago; the University of California, Berkeley; Precision Development; Digital Green and CIMMYT, a nonprofit global agricultural research organization.
AIM for Scale will focus the funding on governments that will implement pilot programs on a national level.
Learn more about AIM for Scale here.
