In 2023 the URI AI Lab and the BigData Collaborative merged with the new URI Center for Computational Research envisioning that the merger would result in significant synergies between the AI Lab and ITS that would be fully leveraged to gain efficiencies and deepen the impact of all. 

The URI AI Lab is located on the ground floor of the Main Library. The Lab has been at the forefront of pioneering influential outreach, educational, and research initiatives for 5 years. The recent advancements achieved in artificial intelligence (AI), for example “large language models” (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, have revealed significant new opportunities for educators and researchers. Given the unprecedented level of enthusiasm surrounding AI presently, the URI AI Lab’s impact is projected to substantially escalate in the coming years. To learn more about the ongoing activities at the AI Lab, please visit the Lab’s website: https://web.uri.edu/ai

The URI Big Data Collaborative began in 2016 with the hiring of 8 researchers interested in Big Data across the university. Today Big Data permeates nearly every aspect of our world. The ability to extract knowledge from large, complex and rapidly moving data sets is at the core of 21st century discovery and decision-making. At URI, Big Data and Data Science scholarship includes the development of approaches for which there are not currently viable solutions, and the application of big data to address global challenges in new ways. The approach to research and education is deeply interdisciplinary or convergent and includes the development of new techniques and technologies for collecting, organizing, cleaning, archiving, accessing, analyzing, and communicating data. To learn more about the ongoing activities at the Big Data Collaborative, please visit the website: https://web.uri.edu/bigdata