Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is investing in the next generation of artificial intelligence. Hastings donated $50 million to his alma mater, Bowdoin College, to create a research initiative on “AI and Humanity.” The gift is the biggest the Maine university has received since its founding in 1794.
Specifically, the aim of the program is to study the risks and larger consequences of AI as this technology continues to grow and evolve. Part of the money will be used to hire 10 faculty members. It will also be used to support professors “who want to incorporate and interrogate AI” in both their teaching and research, according to the New York Times. The goal is to make Bowdoin College a hub for this type of research.
“We’re going to be fighting for the survival of humanity and the flourishing of humanity,” Hastings said in an interview with the Times. He also noted that, when it comes to human interactions and its impact to society, the AI change “will be much bigger” than the social networking change. “So it’s important to get started early before we’re overwhelmed by the problems.”
The idea for the program came out of a conversation Hastings had with Bowdoin’s president, Safa R. Zaki, who is a cognitive scientist specializing in how people divide the world into categories. Zaki told the Times she believes educators have a “moral imperative” to question AI and the impact it will have on society.
This donation comes as AI becomes increasingly vital in the tech sector. During the company’s fourth quarter earnings report for 2024, Alphabet — the parent company of Google — noted that it plans to spend $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, as part of its planned expansion of its artificial intelligence strategy. In December, Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, raised $6 billion in funding for its Series C round of funding, bringing it closer to its targeted $75 billion valuation. And last fall, OpenAI — the company behind ChatGPT — raised $6.6 billion in funding, bringing its valuation to $157 billion. This is all to say that AI has cemented itself as the next big thing in tech, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
