Hoffman-Yee Research Grants

The Hoffman-Yee Research Grants are designed to fund interdisciplinary teams with research spanning HAI’s key areas of focus: understanding the human and societal impact of AI, augmenting human capabilities, and developing AI technologies inspired by human intelligence. These grants are made possible by a gift from philanthropists Reid Hoffman and Michelle Yee. 

The six teams chosen to receive the inaugural grants will address significant scientific, technical, or societal challenges requiring an interdisciplinary collaboration. They were selected for their boldness, ingenuity, and potential for transformative impact. To learn more about the selection criteria and eligibility, see the Call for Proposals. For any questions related to grants, please email HAI-Grants@stanford.edu

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Intelligent Wearable Robotic Devices for Augmenting Human Locomotion

Falling injuries among the elderly cost the U.S. health system $50 billion (2015)—while causing immeasurable suffering and loss of independence. This research team seeks to develop wearable robotic devices using an AI system that both aids in human locomotion, as well as predicts and prevents falls among older people.

AI Tutors to Help Prepare Students for the 21st Century Workforce

The project aims to demonstrate a path to effective, inspiring education that is accessible and scalable. The team will create new AI systems that model and support learners as they work through open-ended activities like writing, drawing, working on a science lab, or coding. The research will monitor learners’ motivation, identity, and competency to improve student learning. Tested solutions will be implemented in code.org, brick-and-mortar schools, virtual science labs and beyond.

Toward Grounded, Adaptive Communication Agents

This project aims to develop next-generation, language-based virtual agents capable of collaborating with humans on meaningful, challenging tasks such as caring for patients. The research could be particularly impactful for assistive technologies, where a human’s behavior and language use will change over repeated interactions with their personal agent.

Curious, Self-aware AI Agents to Build Cognitive Models and Understand Developmental Disorders

Human children learn about their world and other people as they explore. This project will bring together tools from AI and cognitive and clinical sciences, creating playful, socially interactive artificial agents, and improving the understanding and diagnosis of development variability, including Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the process, the team hopes to gain insights into building robots that can handle new environments and interact naturally in social settings.

Reinventing Government with AI: Modern Tax Administration

This team seeks to demonstrate how AI-driven, evidence-based learning can benefit U.S. government agencies by driving efficiencies and improving the delivery of services. The team proposes an active-learning system that uses an AI algorithm to decide which tax returns should be prioritized for auditing for a more effective and fairer tax collection system.  This research will have implications for a wide range of other governmental contexts, including environmental and health compliance.

An AI “Time Machine” for Investigating the History of Concepts

This research will develop new AI technology to examine historical texts in multiple languages to help humanists and social scientists better interpret history and society. Researchers will investigate key questions on morality, immigration, bias, aesthetics, and more. Using AI to help analyze how ideas change over time and how thought shapes society could be a breakthrough contribution not only to AI but to the humanities as well.