Andy Konwinski, a prominent computer scientist and co-founder of Databricks and Perplexity, announced on Monday that he is pledging $100 million of his personal wealth to establish a new research institute dedicated to artificial intelligence. This initiative, under his company Laude, seeks to nurture innovative AI research through a funding model combining elements of grants and venture capital investments.
Known formally as the Laude Institute, this new venture will support research designed specifically by and for computer scientists, aiming to foster advancements that not only advance the AI field but also encourage socially beneficial outcomes. Joining Konwinski on the institute’s board will be distinguished experts in AI, including UC Berkeley’s professor Dave Patterson, Google’s chief scientist Jeff Dean, and Joelle Pineau, who leads AI Research at Meta.
As a first step, the Laude Institute has committed a foundational grant of $3 million per year for five years to fund the new AI Systems Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. This flagship project will be led by renowned researcher Ion Stoica, currently the director of Berkeley’s influential Sky Computing Lab and co-founder of several tech companies, Databricks and Anyscale among them.
Scheduled to open in 2027, Berkeley’s AI Systems Lab will attract several other notable researchers, creating a premier environment for groundbreaking AI exploration.
In his announcement, Konwinski emphasized a dual strategy for the institute’s investments, labeling them “Slingshots” and “Moonshots.” The “Slingshot” projects will fund early-stage researchers through grants and active mentorship, whereas “Moonshot” endeavors will support ambitious long-term research addressing significant global challenges, such as scientific discovery, civic engagement, healthcare, and workforce retraining.
This structure—a non-profit institute supported by a public-benefit operational arm—allows Laude to work across both philanthropic and commercial domains. Konwinski has indicated openness towards collaboration and additional contributions from other industry leaders interested in supporting this vision.
The magnitude of Konwinski’s financial commitment derives largely from the success of Databricks, which achieved a $62 billion valuation after closing a $15.3 billion funding round earlier this year. Meanwhile, Perplexity recently reached a $14 billion valuation, further underpinning Konwinski’s ability to pledge this substantial sum.
This latest venture comes amid increasing concerns about the blending of commercial interests and supposedly independent AI research. Notably, several recent controversies, such as benchmarks funded by companies that later benefited commercially from the research outcomes, have highlighted the urgent need for genuinely independent and unbiased AI research initiatives.
In contrast to commercially-driven labs, the Laude Institute positions itself as an alternative dedicated primarily to fostering meaningful and independent advances in AI. Its mission promises to guide the future of artificial intelligence toward outcomes with beneficial societal impacts, rather than solely pursuing commercial interests.
