AI for the Public Good

Artificial intelligence (AI) is unlocking new possibilities in everything from healthcare to education. But behind every breakthrough are the people, ideas and support needed to turn innovation into real-world impact.

This is exactly what the NUS Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII) has been doing: bringing together researchers from across disciplines to harness AI for the benefit of the community.

In 2025, NAII reached a key milestone with its first philanthropic fund from Google.org. Beyond a vote of confidence in the Institute’s mission, the contribution highlights a broader truth: how philanthropy can power innovation, strengthen collaboration and help new ideas blossom.

Assembling Interdisciplinary Expertise

While AI may seem like a modern-day development, the foundations for NAII were already being laid 50 years ago, when NUS began its foray into AI research.

As AI research and advanced AI technologies expanded across the University, it soon became clear that AI was essential in every discipline. According to NAII director Professor Mohan Kankanhalli, “It was timely to create a common platform to bring together researchers, for greater impact.”

NAII was established in March 2024. With its creation, a novel AI ecosystem was born, serving not only researchers on campus, but also communities and businesses for the public good in Singapore and the world.

Prof Mohan Kankanhalli (second from right), Director of NAII, with researchers from the Institute.

“NAII serves as a university-level platform institute that brings together AI research across NUS,” Prof Mohan elaborated.

This platform model is what makes NAII stand out from others: rather than focusing on one branch of AI, the Institute is designed to catalyse interdisciplinary collaborations within NUS. This allows expertise from different faculties and departments to come together for synergistic AI research and accelerate developments.

A Strong Start

In two years, NAII has organised over 45 events, including lectures, seminars and forums with local and overseas academic and industry partners.

The Institute has also brought several brilliant ideas to life. Before NAII, external partners would approach individual professors and research groups at NUS, limiting opportunities for collaboration with other experts. Now, NAII has become the connector that links partners up with relevant groups. As Prof Mohan put it, “NAII serves as a window to the world for the vibrant AI research ecosystem of NUS.”

In 2025, NAII launched the inaugural NUS AI Research Day, showcasing the diverse and high-impact AI research taking place across NUS.

The team at NAII has been disbursing seed grants to NUS researchers, kickstarting groundbreaking multi-disciplinary AI projects. “This has enabled the exploration of 38 bold new ideas by some of our most talented AI researchers,” said Prof Mohan.

Taking It a Step Further

With so much achieved in NAII’s first few years, Google.org’s contribution will help drive even greater impact.  

“The contribution from Google.org helps to foster a coordinated, campus-wide AI ecosystem that prioritises societal benefit, accelerates interdisciplinary research, enables open collaboration across faculties, and translates innovations into tools and practices that serve communities in Singapore and beyond,” shared Prof Mohan. “It’s a resounding testament to the world-class AI research being undertaken at NUS.”

Google.org’s support also positions the Institute as a leading partner that global organisations seek to collaborate with.

In 2025, NAII partnered with Google.org to host the NUS-Google DeepMind Gemini Symposium.

At present, for every proposal that is given a seed grant, NAII must turn down an average of eight other exciting ideas. Increased philanthropic support will allow NAII to back more ideas. “Having more resources will allow NAII to seed many more exciting research ideas that can lead to significantly more societal impact,” said Prof Mohan.

Looking ahead, Prof Mohan envisions NAII as a global node for AI thought leadership, driven by research excellence, transformative translation, and sustainable societal impact. Google.org’s support is an encouraging start. Prof Mohan is confident that through strong philanthropic support, NAII will become self-sustainable in the long term—able to support high-impact, interdisciplinary AI research through seed grants.

The opportunity is clear: donors, partners and organisations can play a direct role in shaping the future of AI for the public good.