EU Commission launches RAISE to back AI research in Europe

The European Commission launched the RAISE pledging initiative for AI in science enablers in Dublin on Thursday, aiming to mobilise private-sector and philanthropic support for European researchers working across artificial intelligence and science beyond public funding alone.

The initiative is part of the AI in Science Strategy and is meant to bring in-kind support such as access to frontier AI models, computing capacity, research software licences, data and training. The Commission said it also wants to create more matchmaking and collaboration between private actors and the AI-in-science community.

Initial commitments have been made by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Nvidia, Elsevier, Sanofi, Frontiers, Mistral and Google DeepMind, and the initiative remains open to further contributions. Organisations taking part must make a concrete pledge showing sustained support for AI in science beyond their direct commercial interests.

At the same summit, Mistral AI and CERN launched a partnership to develop what is set to become the largest foundation model in physics. The Commission also presented updated Living Guidelines on the Responsible Use of Generative AI in Research, which it described as its most extensive revision to date.

It also launched the RAISE Hub, RAISE Forum and RAISE Observatory to bring information, resources, communities and evidence on AI in science in Europe into a single integrated environment. The initiative will be reviewed annually, with pledges and progress presented at future editions of the European AI in Science Summit.