Tel Aviv University Launches New Center For AI, Data Science

Tel Aviv University launched its new Multidisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science (DS) last week to train a new generation of researchers and industrialists who will take Israel “to the forefront of the global AI revolution.”

The center is headed by Professor Meir Feder of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.

“The AI revolution is expected to impact our way of life in every aspect, from drug development and data-based personalized medicine, to defense and security systems, financial systems, scientific discoveries, robotics, autonomous systems and social issues,” Feder said in a statement.

He indicated that all TAU students will be provided with basic AI education.

The center expects to include hundreds of researchers, and will promote multidisciplinary collaborations with scientists all over campus. It will also foster collaborations with the military and with public institutions in industry and the community, as well as leading universities and research institutes around the world.

Professor Feder added that the AI Center will launch a collaboration next month with Google Israel as part of the company’s ‘AI for Social Good’ program.

TAU President, Professor Ariel Porat said the establishment of the AI Center “is one more step in implementing TAU’s vision for advancing groundbreaking, multidisciplinary research that brings together the university’s finest researchers, the high-tech industry and the community.”

Professor Porat said the university plans to establish more multidisciplinary centers in the coming years including a center for research on climate change and a center for aging research. 

“TAU’s great advantage is its enormous range of disciplines. Our new multidisciplinary centers will further extend the scope of research, combining different disciplines, from engineering and computer science through life sciences, medicine and psychology, to economics, management, humanities, arts and law,” he said.