University of Cincinnati researchers have signed a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with global tech company Thales (pronounced TAL-ess).
Thales has an office in Blue Ash and is looking for more Cincinnati space. It's known globally for its work in the aerospace, defense, transportation and security sectors.
The multi-year MOU will allow the two to collaborate in many areas. Two big ones are cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence
Even back in 2012 in Professor Kelly Cohen's UC lab, students were working to make artificial intelligence more trustworthy. One of Cohen's students then, Nick Ernest, now works for Thales and the two of them helped ink the MOU agreement.
You may know Ernest from a 2016 story when his artificial intelligence beat Air Force and Navy pilots in a simulation at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
He looks forward to the Thales-UC collaboration and creating a more reliable artificial intelligence.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks says the public must be able to trust any future AI systems.
Cohen says with more airworthy vehicles, many of the elements would need to be automated. "That would be possible with trustworthy AI, the emphasis on 'trustworthiness,' " he says. "It allows us as humans to trust the machines."
He explains the AI systems UC developed and Thales advanced are reliable because they are restricted to doing certain tasks and that ensures they are doing them well.
Cybersecurity
Tennessee State and Southeastern Louisiana are the most recent universities to be hit with cyberattacks. Cincinnati State was hacked in November 2022. The University of Cincinnati, like other schools, is taking steps to protect itself.
This MOU will help with cybersecurity says Vice President Chief Digital Officer Bharath Prabhakaran. "They (Thales) have a whole vertical focus on cybersecurity and multiple tools and solutions. We'll need to explore some of those opportunities or we can leverage that to further strengthen our position," he says.
Prabhakaran adds with research and student data at risk, cyberbreaches is one of the things that keep him up at night.
