USC Launches $200 Million AI Initiative Funded by Mark and Mary Stevens

May 5, 2026
The University of Southern California has launched a major artificial intelligence initiative supported by a $200 million donation from venture capitalist Mark Stevens and his wife, Mary. The gift will expand AI research across health sciences, security, business, and the arts, and the USC School of Advanced Computing will be renamed in their honor.

University of Southern California has launched a new artificial intelligence initiative supported by a $200 million donation from venture capitalist Mark Stevens and his wife, Mary, announced in a press release. The program will expand AI research across health sciences, security, business, and the arts.

In recognition of the gift, the USC School of Advanced Computing within the Viterbi School of Engineering will be renamed the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence. The initiative will recruit leading AI researchers and support the development of new therapeutics, security technologies, and creative applications.

USC currently offers more than 30 programs in artificial intelligence and computing, enrolling thousands of students. A new Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence will be introduced this fall. Researchers at USC are already applying AI to study neurodegenerative diseases, prevent suicides among students and military personnel, and create interactive virtual environments for entertainment and education.

We hope you enjoyed this article

Consider subscribing to one of our newsletters like AI in Education, Enterprise AI Brief or Daily AI Brief.

Also, consider following us on social media:

AI in Education Enterprise AI AI Brief AI Brief (X)
Free newsletter

Enterprise AI Brief

Weekly report on AI business applications, enterprise software releases, automation tools, and industry implementations.

AI Token Webinar

Whitepaper

Tensordyne Napier: What If One Rack Could Do the Work of Nine?

Tensordyne

This Tensordyne whitepaper presents Napier, an inference-focused AI processor and rack-scale system based on the company’s TDN Math logarithmic number system. It examines infrastructure requirements for large mixture-of-experts and agentic models, compares major inference architecture approaches, and details the TDN AIP processor, TDN72 pod, TDN Link fabric, and Napier Ultra configuration. The paper reports simulation-based performance, cost, and accuracy-validation results, including Tensordyne’s projected comparison of one Napier rack with a nine-rack Nvidia Rubin plus Groq deployment; the chip is reported as taped out and in fabrication.

Read more

You may also like

Free, six days a week

Daily AI Brief: the AI news that matters, in your inbox.