The new Centre of Excellence follows a £3.6m strategic investment, and brings together experts from across the University to advance AI research, education, innovation and training, for the benefit of society.
The CMI will focus on critical areas such as AI and social equality/inequality, the role of AI in health and healthcare, AI-driven engineering and scientific discovery, and dependable autonomous systems.
The launch event was attended by key University figures, including the Vice-Chancellor Professor Koen Lamberts. In his opening remarks, Professor Lamberts reinforced the University’s significant financial investment in the CMI, stressing its importance in driving the next industrial revolution.
Following this, Professor James Marshall outlined the CMI’s expansive mission. He detailed the Centre's dual focus: firstly, on developing cutting-edge AI technologies; and secondly, on rigorously studying the ethical and societal impacts of AI. Professor Marshall highlighted the CMI’s commitment to applying its innovations in crucial sectors, including healthcare, materials, robotics, engineering, and manufacturing.
The event concluded with the official launch of the CMI video, followed by a networking event where attendees had the opportunity to speak directly with the featured staff members about their groundbreaking work.
Director of the CMI, Professor James Marshall, said “it has been an honour to be recruited as the first Director of the CMI, and to have had the opportunity to build the team over the last year. Now that our recruitment is complete, I am looking forward to seeing the contributions my colleagues in the CMI, and the University more widely, are going to make in research using, and into, Artificial Intelligence.”
CMI researchers have been instrumental in creating the University’s new AI for Research Guidance. This resource provides essential clarity for academics and students navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI tools.
The University's proactive approach was lauded by external experts. Professor Michael Littman, Associate Provost for AI at Brown University, said:
"With the widespread availability and adoption of generative AI tools such as chatbots, researchers are struggling to understand what constitutes responsible use... the patchwork of rules and guidance from grant agencies and publishers and universities has become very complicated. By providing a guidance tool, the University of Sheffield is doing pathbreaking work to help establish norms around these difficult questions. Although the document's intended audience is the campus community, I believe researchers worldwide will find it helpful in navigating these important issues.”
The new guidance is strategically designed to align with the stringent requirements of major academic publishers and funding bodies, ensuring its practical relevance for researchers.
Dr Nataliya Tkachenko, Generative AI Ethics and Assurance Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, emphasised the strength of the guidance's framework:
“The GenAI Guidance Tool responds to a pressing need in academia for clear standards on the responsible use of generative AI in research and innovation. Its structured focus on appropriateness, attribution, accuracy, data protection, and accountability provides a strong foundation for embedding AI use within established principles of research integrity. By aligning with the requirements of funding bodies and major publishers, it ensures practical relevance, while its clarity and accessibility make it a valuable resource for researchers navigating this fast-evolving space.”
The successful launch of the Centre for Machine Intelligence, with its immediate and strong focus on responsible innovation, solidifies the University’s position as a leader in both developing and responsibly deploying the next generation of artificial intelligence.