Just a few years ago, AI was nothing more than an emerging technology that was used to write essays for students, but now, it’s one of the most rapidly developing industries in the world, with the potential to make content that is seemingly real. Much of this rapid improvement is due to a surge in research efforts to improve AI, much of it coming from established colleges and universities, one of them being Boston University (BU). 

At BU, a large movement called the AI Research (AIR) initiative has spread through multiple disciplines of study, from machine learning to medicinal practices, all with the goal of further developing AI’s abilities. The initiative has professors and students across many subjects, employing 11 unique labs, all with different projects, members, and goals. Although each of the labs in the AIR Initiative has separate research goals, they do collaborate often, hosting weekly meetings to present research findings and PhD student presentations. 

One of the most interesting labs participating in the AIR initiative is the Batman Lab, named after the lead professor, Kayhan Batmanghelich. The lab places a large emphasis on the intersection of medicine and AI, an area of research that has been surging recently. The Lab is formatted so that it may emphasize the role of AI in healthcare, while also dealing with separate diseases. For example, the Batman lab places importance on the main challenges of AI in healthcare, specifically explainability, data efficiency, and multimodal data fusion and causality, while at the same time researching multiple diseases like Alzheimer’s, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

When we look to the future, specifically what our technology will look like, it’s near impossible to go without mentioning AI. It’s one of the most rapidly developing technologies we’ve ever seen, and month after month and day after day, we see brand innovations in the field bringing brand new applications. Amongst the wave of AI research programs sweeping the world, the AIR Initiative at BU stands out as one of the most cross-disciplinary and integrative research programs in the country, and it would be no shock to see amazing findings come out of it. 

By: Arjun Desai