MIT Seeks to Unleash Faculty and Student Startups Amid AI Boom

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is exploring ways to make it easier for faculty and students to pursue their own startups and cash in on soaring demand for artificial intelligence.

The university is reviewing everything from how long professors can take a leave of absence to the school’s licensing and conflict-of-interest rules, MIT officials said. The initiative is a response to requests by professors for more leeway to pursue startups and commercial research in the face of MIT’s $300 million budget shortfall and uncertainty around federal scientific research funding. Students have also been clamoring for opportunities to tap into the ...