What if a computer could help a coastal community see flooding coming before it reaches critical infrastructure? Or help public health officials spot signs of a disease outbreak sooner?
In Massachusetts, researchers and colleges are working on those kinds of problems with help from a new $3.3 million state investment in artificial intelligence.
The Healey-Driscoll administration and the Massachusetts AI Hub have awarded $3,295,792 to five projects developing AI tools for challenges in public health, coastal protection, workforce training, manufacturing and defense. The projects stretch across Boston, Cambridge, Fall River, Marshfield and Lincoln, and each takes a different approach to putting AI to work outside the lab.
The latest round of grants brings the Massachusetts AI Hub’s investment in applied AI projects to about $6.1 million. The five recipients will also contribute more than $1.1 million in matching support through their academic and industry partners.
The funding comes through the MA Applied AI Models Innovation Challenge, a program launched in January 2025 to help researchers build AI tools for specific industries and real-world needs. Rather than focusing on technology that tries to do everything, the program supports smaller, specialized models designed to solve specific problems. Grants can cover the work from gathering the information needed to building a model to testing whether it works in the real world.
For Massachusetts, that means AI research is being connected to problems people and businesses already face. In a recent emailed news release, Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley said the state wants its investments to help industries meet those challenges while keeping responsible AI development in focus. The program, he said, supports projects that can strengthen the economy and help Massachusetts remain a leader in applied AI.
One of those challenges is protecting coastal communities and the infrastructure they depend on. The Atlantic Resiliency Innovation Institute received the largest award, $958,550, to develop a system that can predict flood risks in specific coastal locations, particularly around energy infrastructure. It will bring together improved weather forecasts, information from sensors and computer models showing how flooding could affect important facilities. The goal is to give people a clearer picture of where flooding could cause problems.
The next project looks at a different kind of threat: the spread of disease. Boston University received $298,394 to develop PandemIQ Llama, also called the BEACON Platform. The AI system is designed to study health information from around the world, help identify possible disease outbreaks, assess risks and prepare reports for public health officials. The university said the open-access platform is already being used by public health agencies worldwide.
While that project focuses on protecting public health, another grant looks at helping people prepare for the jobs businesses need to fill. Bristol Community College received $727,270 to develop an AI system that can evaluate a person’s skills by examining examples of work they have completed. Those results would be compared with industry skill standards, giving employers a better way to recognize what someone can do while helping schools and training programs understand which skills businesses are looking for. The idea is to make it easier to connect workers with jobs and identify where additional training could help.
Massachusetts is also looking at how AI could change the work happening inside factories and other industrial settings. Harvard University’s Kempner Institute received $811,578 to develop a system called Large Video Planner-Industrial. The project aims to teach robots new tasks by having them watch videos of people performing those tasks. Rather than requiring someone to program every movement by hand, the robots would learn from what they see and adjust as needed. The researchers hope this could make automation less expensive and easier for small and midsize businesses in manufacturing, logistics and recycling to use.
The final grant takes AI into defense technology. The UMass Lowell Applied Research Corporation received $500,000 to develop a platform that helps coordinate information from multiple sensors during counter-drone operations. Its system will use reinforcement learning, a type of AI that improves through experience, along with network optimization to help different robotics and defense systems work together. The project is also intended to create a shared technology layer that does not depend on a single vendor.
These five projects are part of a broader push by Massachusetts to make AI useful beyond research and industry. The state has also been exploring how the technology can help people find information and interact with government services.
For example, Massachusetts has introduced an AI virtual assistant on mass.gov that has handled an estimated 700,000 to 800,000 conversations across multiple agencies, according to Chief Digital Officer Devyn Paros. The state has also been working to improve how residents use its websites and access public information. In June, it launched a Constituent Experience Center of Excellence to help agencies improve their online services.
The AI Hub is working to move projects like these from an idea to something people can actually use. “By helping researchers build, test and refine domain-specific AI models, the Challenge moves innovative technologies closer to practical applications that can advance businesses and industries across Massachusetts and beyond,” Director Sabrina Mansur said in a statement.
The program offers up to $1 million per project and can pay for work throughout the development process, including gathering data and testing the technology in the field. It places particular emphasis on smaller AI models that can use less energy and may be easier to put into everyday use.