ISTA Secures €5 Million Donation to Advance Trustworthy AI Research
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The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has secured a significant €5 million donation from Uber co-founder Garrett Camp to propel research into trustworthy artificial intelligence. This marks Camp’s first philanthropic contribution to a European research institute, recognizing ISTA’s growing global appeal and commitment to responsible AI development. ISTA will leverage the funds to build upon fundamental AI research, drawing on strengths across computer science, mathematics, and natural sciences. “With this generous gift, ISTA can further build upon fundamental research in artificial intelligence,” said ISTA President Martin Hetzer, emphasizing the institute’s focus on creating robust and valuable AI systems for both science and society. €5 Million Donation Advances Trustworthy, Human-Centered AI Camp’s broader philanthropic work, channeled through Camp.org, consistently prioritizes responsible AI development. ISTA’s interdisciplinary approach—integrating computer science, mathematics, and natural sciences—is central to the initiative, allowing researchers to address AI’s limitations and build robust systems. The donation will also fuel work on causal AI, led by Francesco Locatello, enabling systems to understand cause-and-effect relationships and adapt to changing data. “Global solutions demand global perspectives and collaboration,” Camp stated, highlighting the importance of uniting international minds. ISTA, established in 2009 and currently home to roughly 90 research groups, anticipates expanding to 150 groups within the next decade, further solidifying its position as an AI hub. “We greatly value this transatlantic vote of confidence,” Hetzer added. Researchers Lampert, Alistarh, Locatello Focus on AI Reliability Christoph Lampert and his team are concentrating on principled AI solutions, moving beyond simple “bug fixes” to proactively engineer safer and more robust systems, while prioritizing data privacy. This approach signals a shift toward building truly trustworthy AI, rather than merely addressing problems as they arise. Dan Alistarh’s research at ISTA addresses the sustainability of AI, focusing on creating models that are both resource-efficient and widely accessible—a critical step toward democratizing the technology. Complementing this is the work of Francesco Locatello, whose team is pioneering causal AI, designed to help systems understand not just correlations, but the fundamental relationships between cause and effect. “It helps us pursue AI research within a broad, interdisciplinary scientific context,” said ISTA President Martin Hetzer, highlighting the institute’s holistic approach. Beyond these core areas, ISTA researchers—including Alex Bronstein and Monika Henzinger—are integrating AI with diverse fields like protein structure prediction and privacy-preserving language models. This interdisciplinary collaboration is central to ISTA’s vision, with the goal of expanding from its current 90 research groups to 150 in the next decade. With this generous gift, ISTA can further build upon fundamental research in artificial intelligence, drawing on our strengths in computer science, mathematics, and the natural sciences.Martin Hetzer AlphaFold3 Integration & Privacy-Preserving Language Model Training Alex Bronstein, collaborating with Paul Schanda, has pioneered a method to “guide” the AlphaFold3 AI model, ensuring its predictions align with concrete experimental data—a crucial step toward reliable biological modeling. This approach signifies a shift from purely computational prediction to AI systems informed by empirical observation, enhancing the accuracy and trustworthiness of structural predictions. Beyond structural biology, ISTA is actively addressing the critical issue of data privacy within large language models. Monika Henzinger is spearheading research into privacy-preserving training methods, aiming to develop AI that can learn from vast datasets without compromising individual data security. Simultaneously, Dan Alistarh’s team is focused on sustainable AI, striving to create resource-efficient models accessible to a wider range of researchers and applications. This interdisciplinary approach extends to causal AI, where Francesco Locatello’s team investigates how AI systems can understand cause-and-effect relationships, improving their ability to predict outcomes and adapt to changing circumstances. Researchers like Krishnendu Chatterjee, Thomas Henzinger, and Matthew Robinson will continue to drive these advancements, contributing to AI that is both scientifically sound and socially responsible. Source: https://ista.ac.at/en/news/ista-receives-e5-million-donation-for-ai/ Tags: Quantum News As the Official Quantum Dog (or hound) by role is to dig out the latest nuggets of quantum goodness. There is so much happening right now in the field of technology, whether AI or the march of robots. But Quantum occupies a special space. Quite literally a special space. A Hilbert space infact, haha! Here I try to provide some of the news that might be considered breaking news in the Quantum Computing space. Latest Posts by Quantum News: Arqit: 4 Predictions for Post-Quantum Encryption Migration in 2026 January 25, 2026 NordVPN: 6 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in 2026 January 25, 2026 Coinbase Establishes Quantum Computing Advisory Board with Stanford & UT Austin Experts January 25, 2026