IBM and the University of California San Diego have announced a multi-year project to work on enhancing quality of life and independence for aging populations through the new Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center (AIHL), located on the campus of UC San Diego.

The center is expected to bring together technology, artificial intelligence and life sciences knowledge of IBM and UC San Diego to promote research and applications in two thematic areas: Healthy Aging and the Human Microbiome.

The collaboration is part of the Cognitive Horizons Network, an international consortium of universities working with IBM to develop technologies based on artificial intelligence.

During the project, the team anticipates that machine learning algorithms for sensing, understanding, modeling, personalizing and informing will be developed, with consideration to human-centered design, and testing in real world environments, according to a statement by IBM.

Co-directors of the Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center will be Ruoyi Zhou and Ho-Cheol Kim from IBM Research; and Tajana Rosing, a Fratamico endowed chair holder and faculty member in the Jacobs School of Engineering’s Computer Science and Engineering Department, and Rob Knight, a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics and Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation.

The Healthy Aging project will be led by Virginia de Sa, a professor in Cognitive Science, and Laurel Riek, a Computer Science professor. The human microbiome theme will be led by Rob Knight and Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, as well as Sandrine Miller-Montgomery, a Jacobs School of Engineering faculty member and executive director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation. As part of the IBM-UC San Diego partnership, IBM will join the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation as a platinum sponsor.

[Image courtesy: IBM]