Purdue trustee committee OKs Google partnership for AI

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Purdue University trustees incorporated AI competency into the university's undergrad curriculum at their Dec. 12 meeting, and Tuesday's special finance meeting took a multi-million-dollar step toward helping students meet that goal.

The trustees' finance committee, followed by the executive finance committee, approved a strategic partnership with Google, setting up Purdue students and researchers to have top-shelf access to artificial intelligence, officials said.

“How do we secure Purdue’s leadership in the age of AI, critical for the success of the recently approved AI literacy requirement you guys voted on a couple of weeks ago?" asked Chris Ruhl, Purdue University chief financial officer and treasurer. "This is a portion of the investment ultimately to facilitate that.”

More: Purdue trustees said 'AI' 88 times at meeting: What did they talk about?

Dimitri Peroulis, Purdue's senior vice president for partnerships and online, said, “As part of this agreement, we’re having access to this state-of-the-art tool, so our students and our faculty and our researchers can take full advantage of the AI hardware.

“Purdue students, researchers will have the opportunity to directly collaborate with Google scientists, specifically in the area of AI," Peroulis said. "We believe this is going to bring big advantages on the next steps of education and research on our campus.”