TAU and Google Launch a New Program to Advance Foundational Research in AI

Google and The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at Tel Aviv University (TAD) are continuing their collaboration and have launched a new program to advance artificial intelligence (AI) and data science research. The new three-year program focuses primarily on advancing research in core areas of AI, including innovation in language models, AI for privacy, algorithm efficiency, and more. The program will operate under the leadership of TAD, headed by Prof. Yishay Mansour from the School of Computer Science, and with generous support of 1 million dollars from Google.org.

To mark this exceptional collaboration and launch the new program, the "2025 Google-TAU Summit: Advancing AI Research, Together" brought together TAU's top AI researchers, President of TAU - Prof. Ariel Porat and Google's AI leadership on campus, including Google Vice President and Head of Google Research, Prof. Yossi Matias. They emphasized the partnership's vital role in advancing scientific breakthroughs, transforming education and empowering the next generation of AI researchers.

As part of the new program, Google will support research grants and scholarships for students in the core areas of AI. In addition, emphasis will be placed on new education programs of the center for AI: a program for outstanding students in AI, as well as a program in AI to promote youth from Israel's periphery, BITS of AI, in collaboration with the youth university at TAU.

TAU President, Prof. Ariel Porat highlighted the collaboration with Google that began about five years ago, when Google supported interdisciplinary AI collaborations. The newly launched program focuses on core areas of AI and includes scholarships for PhD students. In addition, it enables scholarships for students from Israel's periphery - thereby advancing the university's strategy of supporting students who have not had the same opportunities as most of their peers. Prof. Porat also emphasized the profound risks to humanity posed by generative AI, especially the creation and spread of fake news and inauthentic content.

Prof. Yishai Mansour, head of the Center for AI and Data Science (TAD), thanked Google for the fruitful collaboration and continued support for research in the fields of AI. Advancing research in the core areas of AI is of paramount importance. One of the key challenges we face is developing theories that will explain the meteoric success of the field. Alongside this, there are many social challenges involved in advancing AI, including the great importance of maintaining privacy.

Researchers from Google and TAD who won grants in the "AI for sustainability and education" program and management of the collaboration program. (Left to right: Prof. Ella Daniel, Education, TAU; Prof. Colin Price, Geophysics, TAU; Prof. Yishay Mansour, Head of TAD; Idan Szpektor, Google Research; Niv Efron, Google Research; Gal Weiss, Google Research Partnerships; Dr. Shiri Stempler, Executive Director, TAD, TAU; Prof. Tal Pupko, Life Sciences, TAU; Hilla Einy, Administrative Manager, TAD.

Dr. Shiri Stempler, Executive Director at TAD, summarized the achievements of the previous programs which focused on promoting AI research in the fields of sustainability, health, and education. Jointly led by Dr. Stempler from Tel Aviv University and Gal Weiss, Strategic Partnerships Development Manager at Google Research, the programs featured joint workshops, bringing together researchers from Tel Aviv University Center for AI and Google, and served as a platform for strengthening connections between academia and industry.

Link to a video summarizing the previous program >>

The summit included a panel focused on how AI is fundamentally reshaping the university landscape, affecting research and education. Moderated by Prof. Avinatan Hassidim, Vice President of Google Research, the panel featured Prof. Noga Kronfeld Schorr, TAU’s Rector; Niv Efron, Senior Director of Engineering at Google; and Prof. Meir Feder, founding head of TAD and a member of TAU’s School of Computer and Electrical Engineering.

Panel: AI in Education. (Left to right: Prof. Avinatan Hasidim, VP, Google Research; Prof. Noga Kronfeld Schorr, Rector, TAU; Niv Efron, Senior Director of Engineering, Google; and Prof. Meir Feder, founding head of TAD and School of Computer and Electrical Engineering, TAU).

The panel reached a consensus that AI is shifting university teaching toward human skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. In addition, the discussion highlighted personalized learning as a key benefit of AI tools in education. The 2025 Summit demonstrated that the Google-TAU collaboration remains important for accelerating high-impact research.

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