Cognizant has launched an Advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab. The lab, based in San Francisco, will focus on advancing the science and practice of AI through innovation and development of intellectual property and AI-enablement technologies. Staffed by a team of researchers and developers, including AI pioneers and PhDs, the lab will collaborate with research institutions, customers, and startups and already has 75 issued and pending patents that provide a differentiated foundation on which to build cutting edge AI solutions. The lab is part of the commitment Cognizant announced last year to invest $1 billion in generative AI (gen AI) over the next three years.

The launch of Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab comes at a time when enterprises are rapidly working to understand the impact of AI and meet expanding expectations around its promise. Recent research has shown more than half (66 percent) of executives are ambivalent or dissatisfied with their company's progress on AI and gen AI, and most executives (85 percent) plan to increase spending on AI and gen AI in 2024. Longer term, Cognizant and Oxford Economics' recent study found gen AI could inject up to $1 trillion to the U.S. economy by 2032.

"As AI rapidly evolves into mainstream use, Cognizant is continually pushing boundaries through strategic partnerships, training programs and platform investments to be an AI-first company," said Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S. "With the launch of Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab, we're progressing this effort by investing in state-of-the-art core AI research that establishes our position at the forefront of innovation and our industry. Because we own the client solutioning relationship from end to end, we have a unique line of sight into businesses, industries, and their AI needs. We're putting dedicated focus on AI research and development to lay the groundwork for better business outcomes and a better future."

By harnessing the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) as capable knowledge workers, the lab's researchers and developers will use the Cognizant Neuro™ AI platform to orchestrate LLMs into decision-making AI systems that can positively impact and optimise business outcomes. Moving beyond simple prompt engineering and fine-tuning, these customised AI applications will be designed to support higher value outcomes -- from strategic board-level business decisions to enterprise operations including financial, sales, product, and IT support, to day-to-day productivity of individual employees.

"Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab is an important partner for us in the research community, and we've been fast at work with them already working on simulating brain dynamics in healthy and patient populations," said Dr. Manish Saggar, Assistant Professor and Director of Brain Dynamics Lab at Stanford University School of Medicine. "I'm excited about the progress we're making together, as well as its potential impact on not only advancing science but also for developing novel interventions for mental health disorders."

Specifically, Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab will focus on the following areas:

· Researching, designing, evaluating, building, and showcasing innovative AI solutions for business productivity and decision making across various domains

· Collaborating with external stakeholders, including research institutions, customers, and startups, and engaging in AI-for-good research projects

· Evangelising gen AI-enabled decision-making solutions globally, and strengthening Cognizant as a knowledge hub for published, peer-reviewed research on AI

· Partnering across Cognizant's business lines and practices to train and upskill associates on new AI solutions as they become available through the Cognizant Neuro™ AI platform

· Fostering an environment of continuous learning, innovation, and knowledge sharing

The lab will be led by AI entrepreneur and inventor, Babak Hodjat, with AI research activities under the supervision of University of Texas at Austin AI Professor and neuroevolution pioneer, Risto Miikkulainen. In just the last year, their team of researchers and developers have already published 14 papers in academic venues, and they received the Best Pathway to Impact Award at the NeurIPS 2023 Climate Change Workshop for the paper, Discovering Effective Policies for Land-Use Planning.

In addition to the launch of Cognizant's Advanced AI Lab, Cognizant is supporting enterprise AI adoption through its AI Innovation Studios in London, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, and Bengaluru. These studios serve as inspiration and co-innovation spaces that bring clients and associates together to identify and collaborate on new business solutions.