Google.org Awards $36 Million to 17 AI Science Projects

Google.org selected 17 organizations to share $36 million through its Impact Challenge: AI for Science, according to EdTech Innovation Hub. Recipients can also join a six month accelerator that provides engineering support, technical mentorship and access to Google infrastructure.

The University of Cambridge will use AI and microscopy to predict degradation in sodium ion batteries. MIT will train AI agents to interpret microscopy images for materials research, while projects at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and the University of Texas at Austin will focus on fusion reactor modeling and design.

Other recipients will apply AI to climate forecasting, ocean monitoring, drug discovery, cancer treatment and genetic research. The health projects include work at the University of Cape Town on genetic variation that affects drug metabolism, UC Berkeley on clinical hypotheses from AI predictions, and the Allen Institute on DNA sequences that can reach brain cells affected by neurodegenerative diseases.