Brown leads NSF $20M ARIA institute to create trustworthy, context-aware AI assistants focused on mental health.
Brown University hosted the inaugural meeting of the AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants (ARIA), funded by a $20 million, five-year National Science Foundation grant. The multi-institution project aims to develop next-generation AI assistants capable of trustworthy, sensitive, and context-aware interactions with people. A key focus of ARIA’s research is the application of AI assistants in mental and behavioral health domains, where safety and trustworthiness are essential.
Researchers from diverse fields including computer science, psychology, and neuroscience are collaborating on themes like AI interpretability, adaptability, and participatory design to ensure AI systems respond appropriately to varied users and contexts. ARIA plans to develop evaluation metrics analogous to Consumer Reports for mental health AI tools, emphasizing transparency and user trust to advance responsible AI deployment in sensitive applications.
Source: Brown University News