Multi-billionaire Stephen Schwarzman is a confidant of President Trump
The largest single donation to a UK university has been given to Oxford for a new institute that will study the ethics of artificial intelligence.
Stephen Schwarzman, a US private equity billionaire who has advised Republican presidents including Donald Trump, has given the university £150m.
A new building for the study of humanities will house the institute.
The UK government said it was a “globally significant” investment in Britain.
At a time when universities face uncertainty over research funding because of Brexit, this is a major financial coup for the University of Oxford.
Schwarzman, the chief executive of the private equity firm Blackstone, is one of America’s best known billionaires.
In the past, his lavish lifestyle as a Wall Street financier has attracted criticism, but more recently he has also become a major donor to education.
Schwarzman told the BBC he was giving the money to Oxford because artificial intelligence was the major issue of our age.
Schwarzman said universities needed to help construct an ethical framework for changes that were happening rapidly.
Some economists have warned the expansion of artificial intelligence could have a significant impact on society – including the loss of jobs due to automation – in what is sometimes called the “fourth industrial revolution”.
Academics have also raised concerns about the potential for malicious use in cyber warfare and the subverting of democracy.
The donation by Mr Schwarzman to Oxford follows a $350m (£279m) gift he made to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to establish a centre for computing and artificial intelligence.
The study of the ethics of AI at Oxford will be in a new humanities centre, bringing together subjects from languages to philosophy.
BBC
