Schmidt Sciences Names Five MIT Faculty AI2050 Fellows

The philanthropic initiative selects a cohort to advance research ensuring artificial intelligence benefits society by 2050.

Updated on Oct. 30, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence

Isometric editorial illustration showing a minimalist, modern research atrium with clean geometric lines, representing an academic research initiative. — Schmidt Sciences has selected five MIT faculty members as 2026 AI2050 Fellows to research the long-term societal benefits of artificial intelligence. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Do you believe artificial intelligence will ultimately prove beneficial for society by 2050?

Schmidt Sciences has named five faculty members from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as 2026 AI2050 Fellows. This group is part of a broader cohort selected to solve challenging problems in artificial intelligence development.

Why it matters

The AI2050 initiative supports research aimed at ensuring artificial intelligence remains beneficial to society over the coming decades. By funding these experts, the organization seeks to address the most complex technical and ethical hurdles currently facing the field.

The 2026 AI2050 cohort includes faculty and alumni from MIT, where each fellow is tasked with researching AI efficacy and societal impact through 2050. These experts were selected by Schmidt Sciences to address technical bottlenecks in current AI development.

The players

Schmidt Sciences

A philanthropic initiative co-chaired by Eric Schmidt and James Manyika that supports advanced scientific research.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A world-renowned research university based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known for its leadership in technology and engineering.

Sendhil Mullainathan

A Peter de Florez Professor at MIT recognized for his contributions to behavioral economics and machine learning.

Manish Raghavan

The Drew Houston Career Development Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management who studies the intersection of computing and social science.

Bailey Flanigan

A Theodore T. Miller Career Development Assistant Professor at MIT with a research background spanning academic fellowships at Harvard and Carnegie Mellon.

The details

The MIT faculty cohort includes Sendhil Mullainathan, Alex Damian, Bailey Flanigan, Yunha Hwang, and Manish Raghavan. They join MIT-affiliated fellows Irene Chen, Allison Z. Koenecke, and Juan Carlos Perdomo to focus on the long-term utility and safety of intelligent systems.

Schmidt Sciences announced the 2026 AI2050 Fellows cohort in 2026.
Bailey Flanigan received her PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in 2024.
Bailey Flanigan served as a Harvard fellow during the 2024-25 period.

The Tech Race

This fellowship expansion represents a strategic shift toward academic-led solutions in the broader race to solve fundamental AI safety concerns. It moves the discipline away from proprietary industrial development and toward open-ended research intended to guide the technology through 2050.

These fellowships influence the foundational frameworks and ethical standards that will eventually govern how AI tools function in daily life. Readers can expect this research to inform future software capabilities and the regulatory safety guardrails of consumer AI products.

The takeaway

The investment by Schmidt Sciences highlights a growing focus on interdisciplinary approaches to solving artificial intelligence challenges. Prospective researchers and students can track these fellowship cohorts to understand the shifting academic priorities in the global AI landscape.