£10 million pound Centre dedicated to safety assurance of AI and autonomy opens at York

Based at the University of York, the Centre has the capability to work directly with industry and the regulatory community on safety assurance of AI and machine learning enabled systems, from development through to deployment, and whole of life operation, thanks to unique on-site testing facilities. 

Professor John McDermid OBE FREng, Director of the Centre, said: 

“Advancing safety assurance of AI, autonomy and robotics is critical to realising the potential of such systems across multiple sectors. AI and autonomy will affect us in the home, at work, as we travel and will affect society more generally, e.g. through healthcare provision. We are at a transition for AI and autonomy with systems starting to be deployed at scale - the Centre is well-poised to help this transition to be net beneficial to society. "

The Centre will work directly with other research organisations, industry and regulators, but has the distinctive benefit of being a neutral, independent, and trusted body focused entirely on safety of AI and autonomy. This includes publishing free guidance for the benefit and use of all and providing education and training to give developers, users, and regulators of AI and autonomous systems the skills, confidence and knowledge to use safety assurance methodologies.

Professor McDermid added: “Through our research, partnerships and collaborations we’re developing practical techniques to assure autonomous systems – that is: to have justified confidence in them. With autonomous systems and AI being adopted by companies across the globe, without this assurance there will likely be both missed opportunities and, worse, avoidable harms.”

As part of the Centre, philanthropists and Honorary Graduate Dr Irwin and Mrs Joan Jacobs, have donated £2 million to establish the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Scholarship Programme.

The Centre for Assuring Autonomy will have three main priorities for research; post-deployment assurance, human-centric autonomy, and informed governance. In addition, the Centre is also home to the UK’s only PhD programme dedicated to Safe AI through life. The UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training on Lifelong Safety Assurance of AI-Enabled Autonomous Systems (SAINTS), which is supported by the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Scholarship Programme, will welcome its first cohort of 12 PhD students in September this year and will work directly with industry and regulators to train future leaders with the research expertise and skills necessary to see organisations across the world benefit from the safe rollout of AI enabled systems.