Google Cloud and Ai2 Join Cancer AI Alliance with $20M Commitment to Advance AI-Powered Cancer Research

Ai2 and Google Cloud join Cancer AI Alliance with a total of $20M in commitments

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) is joining a high-profile national effort to accelerate cancer research using artificial intelligence, committing $10 million in researcher time and technical expertise to the Cancer AI Alliance, a consortium led by the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Google Cloud is also committing $10 million in resources to the effort, planning to provide computing infrastructure and tools to help process large volumes of cancer data. They say the goal is to create a novel AI infrastructure that supports the training and deployment of AI models across institutions while maintaining data security and privacy standards for patients. The Cancer AI Alliance was announced in October 2024 as a joint effort among four major cancer centers: Fred Hutch, Dana-Farber, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Johns Hopkins. Backed by more than $40 million in initial support from AWS, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Deloitte, and Slalom, the project aims to use artificial intelligence to analyze large volumes of cancer data across institutions. Seattle-based Fred Hutch is serving as the lead coordinating center. In a previous interview with GeekWire, Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi said the Cancer AI Alliance represents the kind of real-world challenge that needs customized, domain-specific AI models. The Seattle-based AI institute focuses on open-source artificial intelligence technologies. Farhadi said Ai2's role in the Cancer AI Alliance reflects Ai2's goal to apply cutting-edge research where it can have the most tangible impact on the world. "Any step in the right direction in that space is going to be a risk worth taking, and that's the kind of impact that we're after," Farhadi said, explaining Ai2's ambitions for 2025 on the GeekWire Podcast. "If you're actually trying to solve a real problem, there is no turnkey solution." The Cancer AI Alliance has said it expects initial research results by the end of 2025. A governing committee representing the founding cancer centers oversees the alliance. The long-term goal is to grow the initiative to $1 billion in resources.

Google Cloud and Ai2 Commit $20M to Advance AI-Powered Research for the Cancer AI Alliance

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter Google Cloud to provide advanced and secure technology, while Ai2 to lead AI training and development for AI cancer models SEATTLE and SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Google Cloud and Ai2 announced they have partnered with the Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA), a pioneering consortium uniting leading cancer research institutions and technology companies to harness artificial intelligence (AI) in the fight against cancer. Google Cloud and Ai2 are each giving $10 million to the initiative and providing access to technology solutions that will help speed scientific discovery. Google Cloud will power planet-scale AI infrastructure and data analytics tools, while Ai2 will provide critical expertise in training large-scale models focusing on cancer research. "The Cancer AI Alliance represents a major advancement in harnessing AI to transform cancer discovery and research," said Reymund Dumlao, Director, State and Local Government and Education, Google Public Sector. "Google Cloud's planet-scale AI infrastructure and analytics combined with Ai2's mission to make open models more accessible will help accelerate research breakthroughs and drive improvements in patient outcomes." AI has the potential to radically advance cancer research, helping accelerate the discovery of cures or more effective treatments. However, this is only possible with access to critical data aligned across cancers, treatments, institutions, and medical professionals. Today, cancer AI models are often limited by both the breadth and depth of data and not easily transferable between institutions, limiting the potential for a single model to make a broader impact in the field of cancer research. "The potential for AI to advance healthcare is immense, and CAIA represents a significant step toward applying AI to some of the most challenging problems in cancer and AI research," said Ali Farhadi, CEO of Ai2. "At Ai2, we are not only committed to building state-of-the-art AI models, but also to creating open, scalable systems that allow cancer centers to collaborate in a distributed and private way. For the first time, cancer centers are bringing their data together, and it's imperative we architect data preparation and model training in a way that protects patient privacy while demonstrating the advancements we make by sharing data effectively and securely. Our open, yet privacy-protected distributed approach allows researchers and clinicians to build on and learn from AI models without the need to directly share data." CAIA, spearheaded by Seattle's Fred Hutch Cancer Center in collaboration with top cancer research institutes and tech leaders, aims to create a novel AI infrastructure that is open, which is critical for the research, while keeping data private and secure. By bringing together leading cancer centers, CAIA will develop generalizable AI models that in the future can be shared across institutions, from large centers to smaller regional hospitals. "The addition of Google Cloud and AI2 to CAIA builds on our incredible momentum toward safely and swiftly unlocking the next generation of critical insights in cancer treatment and care," said Jeff Leek, chief data officer at Fred Hutch Cancer Center and holder of the J. Orin Edson Foundation Endowed Chair. "Their generous contribution of AI and computing expertise and resources, when combined with the technical and scientific prowess of our collective partners, will play a key role in creating the world's most advanced cancer AI laboratory and dramatically accelerate cancer research and improve patient outcomes." Leveraging Google Cloud infrastructure, Ai2 will play a leading role in AI training efforts across the Alliance, collaborating with individual cancer centers to develop and refine AI models tailored to their specific needs. These models will be designed to scale across institutions, ensuring robust data privacy and security by implementing advanced techniques to protect sensitive, institute-specific data while fostering collaboration and innovation. The Alliance is committed to developing AI models that can analyze vast amounts of anonymized patient data without compromising privacy, ensuring that AI-powered insights are both impactful and secure. With Ai2 leading AI model development, powered by Google Cloud's infrastructure and computing technology that enables collaboration on large data sets, CAIA is primed to drive rapid progress in AI-powered cancer research. About Google Cloud Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner. About Ai2 Ai2 is a Seattle-based non-profit AI research institute with the mission of building breakthrough AI to solve the world's biggest problems. Founded in 2014 by the late Paul G. Allen, Ai2 develops foundational AI research and innovative new applications that deliver real-world impact through large-scale open models, open data, robotics, conservation platforms, and more. Ai2 champions true openness with ambitious projects like OLMo, the world's first truly open language model framework, empowering others to participate in the creation of state-of-the-art AI and to directly benefit from the many ways it can advance critical fields like medicine, scientific research, climate science, and conservation efforts. For more information, visit allenai.org. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/google-cloud-and-ai2-commit-20m-to-advance-ai-powered-research-for-the-cancer-ai-alliance-302420874.html SOURCE Google Cloud Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs