subscribe_icon.png Newsletter
Social
Image shows the campus of Johns Hopkins University, a low concrete wall with the university's name is in the foreground, a large green laws, trees, and campus buildings are in the background
Amazon and Johns Hopkins University announced the creation of the JHU + Amazon Initiative for Interactive AI (AI2AI). The collaboration will focus on driving AI advances with an emphasis on machine learning, computer vision, natural language understanding, and speech processing.
Johns Hopkins University
Machine learning

Amazon and Johns Hopkins announce new AI institute

The JHU + Amazon Initiative for Interactive AI (AI2AI) will be housed in the Whiting School of Engineering.

By Staff writer
April 7, 2022
Share

Amazon and Johns Hopkins University (JHU) today announced the creation of the JHU + Amazon Initiative for Interactive AI (AI2AI).

The Amazon-JHU collaboration will focus on driving ground-breaking AI advances with an emphasis on machine learning, computer vision, natural language understanding, and speech processing. Sanjeev Khudanpur, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will serve as the founding director of the initiative.

Amazon's sponsorship of AI2AI, which will be housed in JHU’s Whiting School of Engineering, underscores its commitment to partnering with academia to address the most complex challenges in Al, democratizing access to the benefits of Al innovations, and broadening participation in research from diverse, interdisciplinary scholars, and other innovators.

“Hopkins is already renowned for its pioneering work in these areas of AI, and working with Amazon researchers will accelerate the timetable for the next big strides. I often compare humans and AI to Luke Skywalker and R2D2 in Star Wars: They’re able to accomplish amazing feats in a tiny X-wing fighter because they interact effectively to align their complementary strengths. I am very excited at the prospect of the Hopkins AI community coming together under the auspices of this initiative, and charting the future of transformational, interactive AI together with Amazon researchers,” Khudanpur said.

Amazon funding will support a broad range of activities, including:

  • Fellowships awarded annually to PhD students enrolled in the Whiting School of Engineering;
  • Collaborative research projects led by JHU faculty in collaboration with post-doctoral researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, and research staff;
  • Collaborative research events and activities that accelerate Al research and provide opportunities for interested parties in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C region to learn more about the latest findings and engage with experts through public lectures, workshops, competitions, and other research events.

“This initiative brings together the top talent at Amazon and Johns Hopkins in a joint mission to drive groundbreaking advances in interactive and multimodal AI,” said Prem Natarajan, Alexa AI vice president of natural understanding. “These advances will power the next generation of interactive AI experiences across a wide variety of domains — from home productivity to entertainment to health.”

René Vidal, an Amazon Scholar who is also the Herschel Seder Professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Mathematical Institute for Data Science at Johns Hopkins University, is seen giving a talk against a background of an abstract painting.
Related content
René Vidal wins Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award
The Amazon Scholar and Johns Hopkins University professor was honored for “pioneering contributions to subspace clustering”.

The two organizations have collaborated in the past, with four Johns Hopkins faculty members joining Amazon as part of its Scholars program: Ozge Sahin, a professor of operations management and business analytics at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, in 2019; Gregory Hager, Mandell Bellmore Professor of Computer Science; René Vidal, Herschel Seder Professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Mathematical Institute for Data Science; and Marin Kobilarov, associate professor of mechanical engineering, in 2020.

In 2020 Amazon announced plans to located its HQ2 in nearby Arlington, Virginia. Amazon’s more than $2.5 billion investment in HQ2 and the surrounding area will result in 25,000 jobs created in the next decade, and thousands of indirect jobs across the entire region.

AI research at JHU

The new initiative will build on Hopkins Engineering’s existing strengths in the areas of machine learning, computer vision, natural language understanding, and speech processing. Its Mathematical Institute for Data Science (MINDS) conducts cutting-edge research on the mathematical, statistical, and computational foundations of machine learning and computer vision. The Center for Imaging Science (CIS) and the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR) conduct fundamental and applied research in nearly every area of basic and applied computer vision.

“We are very excited to work with Amazon in this new initiative," said Ed Schlesinger, Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering. "We value the challenges that they bring us and the life-changing potential of the solutions we will create together, and look forward to strengthening our work together over the coming years.”

Research areas
Tags
About the Author
Staff writer

Related content

Work with us

See more jobs See more jobs
Applied Scientist, Artificial General Intelligence
US, NY, New York
The Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team is looking for a passionate, talented, and inventive Senior Applied Scientist to work on pre-training methodologies for Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) models. You will interact closely with our customers and with the academic and research communities. Key job responsibilities Join us to work as an integral part of a team that has experience with GenAI models in this space. We work on these areas: - Scaling laws - Hardware-informed efficient model architecture, low-precision training - Optimization methods, learning objectives, curriculum design - Deep learning theories on efficient hyperparameter search and self-supervised learning - Learning objectives and reinforcement learning methods - Distributed training methods and solutions - AI-assisted research About the team The AGI team has a mission to push the envelope in GenAI with Large Language Models (LLMs) and multimodal systems, in order to provide the best-possible experience for our customers.
Applied Scientist II, Prime Video - Personalization and Discovery Science
US, WA, Seattle
Prime Video is a first-stop entertainment destination offering customers a vast collection of premium programming in one app available across thousands of devices. Prime members can customize their viewing experience and find their favorite movies, series, documentaries, and live sports – including Amazon MGM Studios-produced series and movies; licensed fan favorites; and programming from Prime Video add-on subscriptions such as Apple TV+, Max, Crunchyroll and MGM+. All customers, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership or not, can rent or buy titles via the Prime Video Store, and can enjoy even more content for free with ads. Are you interested in shaping the future of entertainment? Prime Video's technology teams are creating best-in-class digital video experience. As a Prime Video technologist, you’ll have end-to-end ownership of the product, user experience, design, and technology required to deliver state-of-the-art experiences for our customers. You’ll get to work on projects that are fast-paced, challenging, and varied. You’ll also be able to experiment with new possibilities, take risks, and collaborate with remarkable people. We’ll look for you to bring your diverse perspectives, ideas, and skill-sets to make Prime Video even better for our customers. With global opportunities for talented technologists, you can decide where a career Prime Video Tech takes you! Key job responsibilities - Develop ML models for various recommendation & search systems using deep learning, online learning, and optimization methods - Work closely with other scientists, engineers and product managers to expand the depth of our product insights with data, create a variety of experiments to determine the high impact projects to include in planning roadmaps - Stay up-to-date with advancements and the latest modeling techniques in the field - Publish your research findings in top conferences and journals A day in the life We're using advanced approaches such as foundation models to connect information about our videos and customers from a variety of information sources, acquiring and processing data sets on a scale that only a few companies in the world can match. This will enable us to recommend titles effectively, even when we don't have a large behavioral signal (to tackle the cold-start title problem). It will also allow us to find our customer's niche interests, helping them discover groups of titles that they didn't even know existed. We are looking for creative & customer obsessed machine learning scientists who can apply the latest research, state of the art algorithms and ML to build highly scalable page personalization solutions. You'll be a research leader in the space and a hands-on ML practitioner, guiding and collaborating with talented teams of engineers and scientists and senior leaders in the Prime Video organization. You will also have the opportunity to publish your research at internal and external conferences.
Sr. Applied Scientist, Prime Video - Personalization and Discovery Science
US, NY, New York
Prime Video is a first-stop entertainment destination offering customers a vast collection of premium programming in one app available across thousands of devices. Prime members can customize their viewing experience and find their favorite movies, series, documentaries, and live sports – including Amazon MGM Studios-produced series and movies; licensed fan favorites; and programming from Prime Video add-on subscriptions such as Apple TV+, Max, Crunchyroll and MGM+. All customers, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership or not, can rent or buy titles via the Prime Video Store, and can enjoy even more content for free with ads. Are you interested in shaping the future of entertainment? Prime Video's technology teams are creating best-in-class digital video experience. As a Prime Video technologist, you’ll have end-to-end ownership of the product, user experience, design, and technology required to deliver state-of-the-art experiences for our customers. You’ll get to work on projects that are fast-paced, challenging, and varied. You’ll also be able to experiment with new possibilities, take risks, and collaborate with remarkable people. We’ll look for you to bring your diverse perspectives, ideas, and skill-sets to make Prime Video even better for our customers. With global opportunities for talented technologists, you can decide where a career Prime Video Tech takes you! We are looking for a self-motivated, passionate and resourceful Applied Scientist to bring diverse perspectives, ideas, and skill-sets to make Prime Video even better for our customers. You will spend your time as a hands-on machine learning practitioner and a research leader. You will play a key role on the team, building and guiding machine learning models from the ground up. At the end of the day, you will have the reward of seeing your contributions benefit millions of Amazon.com customers worldwide. Key job responsibilities - Develop AI solutions for various Prime Video Search systems using Deep learning, GenAI, Reinforcement Learning, and optimization methods; - Work closely with engineers and product managers to design, implement and launch AI solutions end-to-end; - Design and conduct offline and online (A/B) experiments to evaluate proposed solutions based on in-depth data analyses; - Effectively communicate technical and non-technical ideas with teammates and stakeholders; - Stay up-to-date with advancements and the latest modeling techniques in the field; - Publish your research findings in top conferences and journals. About the team Prime Video Search Science team owns science solution to power search experience on various devices, from sourcing, relevance, ranking, to name a few. We work closely with the engineering teams to launch our solutions in production.
Applied Scientist
US, CA, San Francisco
If you are interested in this position, please apply on Twitch's Career site https://www.twitch.tv/jobs/en/ About Us: Twitch is the world’s biggest live streaming service, with global communities built around gaming, entertainment, music, sports, cooking, and more. It is where thousands of communities come together for whatever, every day. We’re about community, inside and out. You’ll find coworkers who are eager to team up, collaborate, and smash (or elegantly solve) problems together. We’re on a quest to empower live communities, so if this sounds good to you, see what we’re up to on LinkedIn and X, and discover the projects we’re solving on our Blog. Be sure to explore our Interviewing Guide to learn how to ace our interview process. You can work in San Francisco, CA or Seattle, WA. Perks - Medical, Dental, Vision & Disability Insurance - 401(k) - Maternity & Parental Leave - Flexible PTO - Amazon Employee Discount
Applied Scientist, Artificial General Intelligence
US, WA, Bellevue
The Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team is looking for a passionate, talented, and inventive Applied Scientist with a strong deep learning background, to help build industry-leading technology with Large Language Models (LLMs) and multimodal systems. Key job responsibilities As an Applied Scientist with the AGI team, you will work with world-class scientists and engineers to develop novel data, modeling and engineering solutions to support the responsible AI initiatives at AGI. Your work will directly impact our customers in the form of products and services that make use of audio technology. About the team While the rapid advancements in Generative AI have captivated global attention, we see these as just the starting point. Our team is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, leveraging Amazon’s unparalleled ML infrastructure, computing resources, and commitment to responsible AI principles. And Amazon’s leadership principle of customer obsession guides our approach, prioritizing our customers’ needs and preferences each step of the way.
Applied Scientist, AGIF
US, WA, Bellevue
Are you interested in a unique opportunity to advance the accuracy and efficiency of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) systems? If so, you're at the right place! As a Quantitative Researcher on our team, you will be working at the intersection of mathematics, computer science, and finance, you will collaborate with a diverse team of engineers in a fast-paced, intellectually challenging environment where innovative thinking is encouraged and rewarded. We operate at Amazon's large scale with the energy of a nimble start-up. If you have a learner's mindset, enjoy solving challenging problems, and value an inclusive team culture, you will thrive in this role, and we hope to hear from you. Key job responsibilities * Conduct statistical analyses on web-scale datasets to develop state-of-the-art multimodal large language models * Conceptualize and develop mathematical models, data sampling and preparation strategies to continuously improve existing algorithms * Identify and utilize data sources to drive innovation and improvements to our LLMs About the team We are passionate engineers and scientists dedicated to pushing the boundaries of innovation. We evaluate and represent the customer perspective through accurate benchmarking.
Senior Applied Scientist, Artificial General Intelligence
US, CA, Sunnyvale
The Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team is looking for a highly skilled and experienced Senior Applied Scientist, to lead the development and implementation of algorithms and models for supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning through human feedback; with a focus across text, image, and video modalities. As a Senior Applied Scientist, you will play a critical role in driving the development of Generative AI (Gen AI) technologies that can handle Amazon-scale use cases and have a significant impact on our customers' experiences. Key job responsibilities - Collaborate with cross-functional teams of engineers, product managers, and scientists to identify and solve complex problems in GenAI - Design and execute experiments to evaluate the performance of different algorithms and models, and iterate quickly to improve results - Think big about the arc of development of GenAI over a multi-year horizon, and identify new opportunities to apply these technologies to solve real-world problems - Communicate results and insights to both technical and non-technical audiences, including through presentations and written reports - Mentor and guide junior scientists and engineers, and contribute to the overall growth and development of the team
Applied Scientist III, Mexico Consumer
MX, DIF, Mexico City
Do you like working on projects that are highly visible and are tied closely to Amazon’s growth? Are you seeking an environment where you can drive innovation leveraging the scalability and innovation with Amazon's AWS cloud services? The Amazon International Technology Team is hiring Applied Scientists to work in our Machine Learning team in Mexico City. The Intech team builds International extensions and new features of the Amazon.com web site for individual countries and creates systems to support Amazon operations. We have already worked in Germany, France, UK, India, China, Italy, Brazil and more. Key job responsibilities About you You want to make changes that help millions of customers. You don’t want to make something 10% better as a part of an enormous team. Rather, you want to innovate with a small community of passionate peers. You have experience in analytics, machine learning, LLMs and Agentic AI, and a desire to learn more about these subjects. You want a trusted role in strategy and product design. You put the customer first in your thinking. You have great problem solving skills. You research the latest data technologies and use them to help you innovate and keep costs low. You have great judgment and communication skills, and a history of delivering results. Your Responsibilities - Define and own complex machine learning solutions in the consumer space, including targeting, measurement, creative optimization, and multivariate testing. - Design, implement, and evolve Agentic AI systems that can autonomously perceive their environment, reason about context, and take actions across business workflows—while ensuring human-in-the-loop oversight for high-stakes decisions. - Influence the broader team's approach to integrating machine learning into business workflows. - Advise leadership, both tech and non-tech. - Support technical trade-offs between short-term needs and long-term goals.
Applied Scientist II, Intech Latam APAC ML
BR, SP, Sao Paulo
Do you like working on projects that are highly visible and are tied closely to Amazon’s growth? Are you seeking an environment where you can drive innovation leveraging the scalability and innovation with Amazon's AWS cloud services? The Amazon International Technology Team is hiring Applied Scientists to work in our Machine Learning team in Mexico City. The Intech team builds International extensions and new features of the Amazon.com web site for individual countries and creates systems to support Amazon operations. We have already worked in Germany, France, UK, India, China, Italy, Brazil and more. Key job responsibilities About you You want to make changes that help millions of customers. You don’t want to make something 10% better as a part of an enormous team. Rather, you want to innovate with a small community of passionate peers. You have experience in analytics, machine learning, LLMs and Agentic AI, and a desire to learn more about these subjects. You want a trusted role in strategy and product design. You put the customer first in your thinking. You have great problem solving skills. You research the latest data technologies and use them to help you innovate and keep costs low. You have great judgment and communication skills, and a history of delivering results. Your Responsibilities - Define and own complex machine learning solutions in the consumer space, including targeting, measurement, creative optimization, and multivariate testing. - Design, implement, and evolve Agentic AI systems that can autonomously perceive their environment, reason about context, and take actions across business workflows—while ensuring human-in-the-loop oversight for high-stakes decisions. - Influence the broader team's approach to integrating machine learning into business workflows. - Advise leadership, both tech and non-tech. - Support technical trade-offs between short-term needs and long-term goals.
Applied Scientist III, Intech Latam APAC ML
BR, SP, Sao Paulo
Do you like working on projects that are highly visible and are tied closely to Amazon’s growth? Are you seeking an environment where you can drive innovation leveraging the scalability and innovation with Amazon's AWS cloud services? The Amazon International Technology Team is hiring Applied Scientists to work in our Software Development Center in Sao Paulo. The Intech team builds International extensions and new features of the Amazon.com web site for individual countries and creates systems to support Amazon operations. We have already worked in Germany, France, UK, India, China, Italy, Brazil and more. Key job responsibilities About you You want to make changes that help millions of customers. You don’t want to make something 10% better as a part of an enormous team. Rather, you want to innovate with a small community of passionate peers. You have experience in analytics, machine learning and big data, and a desire to learn more about these subjects. You want a trusted role in strategy and product design. You put the customer first in your thinking. You have great problem solving skills. You research the latest data technologies and use them to help you innovate and keep costs low. You have great judgment and communication skills, and a history of delivering results. Your Responsibilities - Define and own complex machine learning solutions in the consumer space, including targeting, measurement, creative optimization, and multivariate testing. - Influence the broader team's approach to integrating machine learning into business workflows. - Advise senior leadership, both tech and non-tech. - Make technical trade-offs between short-term needs and long-term goals.
See more jobs
View from space of a connected network around planet Earth representing the Internet of Things.
Get more from Amazon Science
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Amazon.com | Conditions of Use | Privacy | © 1996-2025 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Social