Overview

• ARIA is one of five NSF-backed national AI research hubs sharing a $100 million grant, with Capital One and Intel contributing alongside federal support
• Led by Ellie Pavlick, the institute will develop AI systems with deep causal understanding and context-aware interactions to minimize risks such as misdiagnoses and privacy breaches
• In its first year, ARIA will convene clinicians, patients and policymakers in workshops to co-design safe, effective AI-driven mental health interventions
• A K-12 education program will partner with Brown’s Bootstrap computer science curriculum to train teachers and introduce causal AI principles to students
• Additional federal funding remains uncertain after the Trump administration threatened a $510 million freeze despite Brown receiving no formal notification