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24 September 2019 -
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For AI basic research you don’t need any big money if only your good mind and some research position, as far as research is a free creative intelligent enterprise consisting in:
“investigation… aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws”;
the collecting of information about a particular subject;
"creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications."
Just keep in mind, AI research is about studying your mind, intelligence and intellect, how it interacts with the world, and how this all could be described, symbolized and quantified for smart algorithms, data models, and machine’s representations.
It is AI development and applications, when you need money.
And its amount of financing depends on your best ambitions and the scale of applications:
if it is implementing general/strong/real/true AI
OR
specific AI/ML/DL, in manufacturing, transportation, banking, health, education, safety, commerce, web search or social networks.
The gAI costs much more than any Big Science projects, including $23b Manhattan project, as far as it is the humankind’s most ambitious R&D project.
As for specific AI/ML/DL R&D, funding might be from zero to several billions.
As a sample of the second case, OpenAI forms exclusive computing partnership with Microsoft to build new Azure AI supercomputing technologies. Multiyear partnership founded on shared values of trustworthiness and empowerment, and an investment of $1 billion from Microsoft, will focus on building a platform that OpenAI will use to create new AI technologies and deliver on the promise of artificial general intelligence.
IBM will invest $2 billion into a new artificial intelligence research hub in New York.
The AI Hardware Center at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus in Albany, New York, is promised to do computer-chip research, development, prototyping, testing and simulation. The center is expected to interest ‘world-class’ minds in AI.
IBM plans to invest $30 million in cash and in-kind contributions for AI research across the SUNY system reaching up to $25 million for a combined total of $55 million.
Empire State Development will provide a $300 million capital grant over five years to the Research Foundation for SUNY to purchase, own and install tools necessary to support the AI Hardware Centre.
IBM also plans to expand and extend its partnership with SUNY Poly for the Center for Semiconductor Research (CSR), which is set to expire at the end of 2021, through at least 2023, with an option to extend the CSR for an additional five years through 2028.
IBM is plowing $2 billion into a new artificial intelligence research hub in New York
https://bloom.bg/2E3k2VK
Conclusion
Investment levels for AI in the EU are low and fragmented, compared with other parts of the world such as the US and China.
https://ai-europe.eu/european-union-to-invest-20-billion-euros-in-ai/
EU AI budget is close to corporate expenses, considering "€2.5 billion is to spread AI across the European economy and society".
EU budget: Commission proposes €9.2 billion investment in first ever digital programme
https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-4043_en.htm
For the next long-term EU budget (2021-2027) the EU has proposed to invest at least €7 billion from Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe Programme in AI.
In all, European Union is planing to Invest 20 Billion Euros in AI since 2020.
What is hardly enough "for Europe to become the world-leading region for developing and deploying cutting-edge, ethical and secure AI" as General, Strong and True AI.
https://ai-europe.eu/european-union-to-invest-20-billion-euros-in-ai/
Global Artificial Intelligence (GAI): Narrow AI, Applied AI, ML&DL, Strong AI, Full AI, AGI, Global AI, Real AI, Superhuman Intelligence