WASHINGTON, D.C. – The  Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), a think tank at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, has received a new grant from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF) to support CSET’s CyberAI Project.

Committed to bridging the frontiers of artificial intelligence, data science, and social impact, the foundation awarded the project a $500,000 grant to support diverse talent development and the protection of democratic ideals in the cybersecurity and information sphere. Support from the PJMF will allow CSET to continue its work on education and workforce policy at the confluence of AI and cybersecurity and expand into new research areas. These will include cutting-edge AI research for cybersecurity and the study of mitigation strategies to counter disinformation

This follows a grant from the PJMF last year of $250,000 to fund CyberAI’s research specifically on the cybersecurity and AI talent pipeline and AI for cyber defense.

Founded in January 2020 with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the CyberAI Project was created to focus on issues at the intersection of cyber and AI. CyberAI’s work covers topics ranging from technical analysis of machine learning vulnerabilities to primers for policymakers to open-source investigations. As is true across all of CSET, CyberAI strives to combine a strong understanding of the technologies at hand with a high-level picture of their strategic and policy relevance,  and to blend analytic rigor with clear writing and practical takeaways to produce grounded, insightful contributions that inform policymakers and support better policy decisions. 

“With this generous grant, we will continue to identify promising initiatives to build the cyber and AI workforce of the future while also identifying strategies to create more secure information and cyber ecosystems,” CyberAI Project Director John Bansemer said.

CyberAI seeks to understand how advances in AI may alter the current state of cybersecurity and, conversely, how the cybersecurity of AI systems affects their safe and trusted development, fielding and operations. 

“This grant reaffirms our mission to connect policymakers to high-quality analysis at the intersection of emerging technology and public policy and allows for us to expand our focus in cybersecurity policy development,” noted CSET Director Dewey Murdick.

Founded in early 2019, CSET produces data-driven research at the intersection of security and technology, providing nonpartisan analysis to the policy community.

For more information please contact Adrienne Thompson at Adrienne.Thompson@georgetown.edu