Generative AI: center of Recife will invest BRL 1.6 million – 05/18/2023 – Tech

Cesar (Recife’s Center for Studies and Advanced Systems) announced this week that it will invest R$ 1.6 million in research in generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) in Brazil.

The money will go towards applied research, writing articles, creating extension and specialization courses on the subject and workshops for professionals in the area. An AI creativity award will also be launched.

“One of the extension courses on our radar is prompt engineering, the development of those who talk to generative AI”, explains César França, head of the institution’s knowledge area.

Generative AI is capable of creating, on its own, content such as texts, images, videos and programming codes, among other things. One of the examples of this technology is ChatGPT, which has gained ground in recent months because it is free and provides quick and elaborate responses to users who ask questions in a chat format.

Among the research topics, there will be emphasis on analyzing how the new technology can be used in software creation and education. The institution has been studying how the use of AI can increase the productivity of developers, for example.

“What are we going to do now to evaluate students through an online written test, considering that they now have access to a technology that can write for them? How do we incorporate this technology to make students learn?”, asks França.

Cesar is a technology research center that also offers university courses. In addition to the investment, the entity launched an article on the subject this week, in which it argues that research in the area should prioritize advances in the development of programs and in the field of education.

Cesar experts who have been researching AI for years point out that the advancement of ChatGPT signals an acceleration in the speed of changes in technology.

“Typically, we create a course once and use it for two to three years. Now, for each new semester, we have to throw it all away and rebuild all the syllabus. The speed of change in the domains we teach is so fast that it’s very difficult to follow”, said Giordano Cabral, professor at UFPE (Federal University of Pernambuco) and president of the board of Cesar.

The entity released an article with assessments on the new technology and how to deal with it.

“We are moving quickly towards a new reality, where no company in almost any sector will be able to compete and survive without having, in its team, people capable of programming with low code/no code tools supported by AI”, said Eduardo Peixoto , CEO of Cesar.

The journalist traveled at Cesar’s invitation.