Is there a dire need for more “people-friendly” AI research or a superfluous philanthropic/commercial structure? Yes, and yes.
Like other AI research institutions with commercial objectives, Konwinski has structured his institute across boundaries: resembling a charity with a beneficial public company arm in operation.
This isn’t directly related to OpenAI’s necessities, which began as an AI research hub and is now, presumably, overtaken by its seven extraordinary commercial entities. However, other researchers have also fallen victim to funding adversity.
For instance, his lab has collaborated on a “final benchmark,” a Stanford-led assessment on how well AI handles tasks, used extensively by Anthropic.
The AI research laboratory is the foundation of Laude Institute, but more of a repository seeking structural investments akin to grants. Alongside Konwinski, the institute’s board includes Dave Patterson, a UC Berkeley professor renowned for prestigious research ceremonies, Jeff Dean, known as Google’s chief scientist, and Joelle Pineau, Meta AI‘s deputy research president.
Laude’s voice tells us that while Konwinski has pledged £100 million, he’s also looking for investments from other successful technologists and is open to that. In terms of how Konwinski strategically designed the ample wealth to secure £100 million for this new endeavor: Databricks held a financial round of £15.3 billion in January and was valued at £62 billion. Perplexity also presented a revenue of £14 billion last month.
An affiliation including members like Konwinski, Dean, and Stoica supporting truly independent research could one day evolve into a mutually beneficial and supportive business.
Konwinski announced the institute’s first £3 million annual grant for five years, serving as the foundation for the new AI Systems Laboratory at Berkeley. This is a new laboratory led by one of Berkeley’s luminaries, Ion Stoica, the current director of the RISE Lab. Stoica also co-founded the Anyscale startup (an AI and Python platform) and the massive data company Databricks, developed out of technology approaches formed at Berkeley.
The new AI Systems Laboratory is expected to open in 2027 and, apart from Stoica, will feature several other renowned researchers.
AI research has grown increasingly intricate. For example, AI metrics designed to show that a specific model trader is supreme have become visibly prominent today. (Even Salesforce is seeing specific LLM is ideal for CRMs.)
In his blog post announcing the institute, Konwinski described its mission as “built by and for computer researchers … We exist to catalyze work that not only pushes the field forward but leads to more significant outcomes.”
Andy Konwinski, a computer scientist and co-founder of Databricks and Perpelexity, announced on Monday that his personal company, Laude, established a new AI research institute with a £100 million self-funded endowment.
He divides his research investments into two fundings referred to as “Slingshots and Moonshots.” Slingshots focus on early-stage research that can leverage grants and direct assistance. Moonshots are, as the name implies, for “broadly popular labs addressing challenges at a species-level like AI for scientific discovery, civic debate, healthcare, and workforce retraining.”
It’s noteworthy that Konwinski’s company, Laude, is not sole in its research grant aspirations. It also co-founded a profit-sharing investment fund launched in 2024. The fund’s co-founder is Pete Sonsini, a former NEA VC investor. As previously reported by TechCrunch, Laude spearheaded a £12 million investment in AI infrastructure startup Arcade. It has also supported other startups discreetly.
