---
title: UMD to Lead New $20M NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law and Society
date: 2023-05-04T09:10:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/umd-to-lead-new-20m-nsf-institute-for-trustworthy-ai-in-law-and-society"
section: Articles
---
# UMD to Lead New $20M NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law and Society

*May 4, 2023* — by [Tom Ventsias](/author/tom-ventsias)


> Institute to Aim for Broader Participation in AI Technology Development, More-Informed Governance of AI-Infused Systems

*New evaluatingtrust — UMD faculty researchers are leading a new $20 million NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law and Society. (Below, from left) University of Maryland doctoral student Lovely-Frances Domingo, Professor Hal Daumé III and Associate Professor Katie Shilton discuss Shilton’s work on ethics and policy for the design of information technologies.*

The University of Maryland will lead a multi-institutional effort supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will develop new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies designed to promote trust and mitigate risks, while simultaneously empowering and educating a public increasingly fascinated by the recent rise of eerily human-seeming applications like ChatGPT.

Announced today, the [NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society](https://www.trails.umd.edu/) (TRAILS) unites specialists in AI and machine learning with social scientists, legal scholars, educators and public policy experts. The team will work with communities affected by the technology, private industry and the federal government to determine what trust in AI would look like, how to develop technical solutions for AI that actually can be trusted, and which policy models best create and sustain trust.

Funded by a $20 million award from NSF, the new institute is expected to transform the practice of AI development from one driven primarily by technological innovation to one that is driven by ethics, human rights, and input and feedback from communities whose voices have previously been marginalized.

“As artificial intelligence continues to grow exponentially, we must embrace its potential for helping to solve the grand challenges of our time, as well as ensure that it is used both ethically and responsibly,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. “With strong federal support, this new institute will lead in defining the science and innovation needed to harness the power of AI for the benefit of the public good and all humankind.”

In addition to UMD, TRAILS will include faculty members from George Washington University (GW) and Morgan State University, with more support coming from Cornell University, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and private sector organizations like the Dataedx Group, Arthur AI, Checkstep, FinRegLab and Techstars.


*researchers gesture toward chart on screen — Photo by Maria Herd*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Artificial Intelligence](https://today.umd.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence), [Computer Science](https://today.umd.edu/topic/computer-science), [Machine Learning](https://today.umd.edu/topic/machine-learning), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences), [College of Information](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-information-studies), [University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/university-of-maryland-institute-for-advanced-computer-studies)