DC daily roundup: $1M for children’s hospitals; Homeland Security hires AI Corps; Waymo rolls out in DC

$1M for children’s hospitals in the region

At Children’s National, thehese funds donated by AWS are specifically focused on furthering generative artificial intelligence and cloud innovation. There are typically more than 2,000 active research projects at the innovation campus, but not all of them are funded, said Mihailo Kaplarevic, the hospital’s chief research Information officer.

“The use of this new technology, the use of cloud, the use of local high-performance computing — in many ways, Children’s National Hospital is becoming a proper technology company,” Kaplarevic said, “because we use so much computing power and technology to achieve our goals.”

➡️ Read more about the plans for the donation in my latest report here.

Supporting our mission is now tax-deductible

This year, Technical.ly celebrates 15 years. That’s a pretty long time in today’s era of local news. We sustain our free journalism with services to reach our audience, a preferred partners program — and direct contributions to our independent newsroom.

Now that last has gotten a bit sweeter: Your contribution is tax deductible through our fiscal agency with the nonprofit behind Report for America. In February, we set a $1M Journalism Fund goal over this year and next to bolster our data journalism, cross-market comparisons and deeper trends and investigations, all without a paywall. But we can’t do it without your support — join us.

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News Incubator: What else to know

• The Department of Homeland Security hired 10 people for its new AI Corps, which will be focused on finding ways to use artificial intelligence to improve cybersecurity, curb fentanyl trafficking and other uses. [Axios]

• DC Police have started to deploy new drones to respond alongside officers. Officials said drones will not be used as first responders as of now, but that could change in the future. [Washington Post]

• Self-driving cars are starting to be rolled out in DC. Waymo cars are already being used in Los Angeles, San Francisco. [NBC4]

• The University of Maryland is hosting a workshop in late July all about using AI/machine learning in digital marketing. [UMD]

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create breathalyzers that can diagnose malaria and tuberculosis. [NIST]

🗓️ On the Calendar