{"version":1,"type":"story","url":"https://digestai.news/story/mit-welcomes-david-siegel-as-2026-27-innovation-fellow-to-explore-ai-f","json":"https://digestai.news/story/mit-welcomes-david-siegel-as-2026-27-innovation-fellow-to-explore-ai-f.json","markdown":"https://digestai.news/story/mit-welcomes-david-siegel-as-2026-27-innovation-fellow-to-explore-ai-f.md","slug":"mit-welcomes-david-siegel-as-2026-27-innovation-fellow-to-explore-ai-f","headline":"MIT welcomes David Siegel as 2026-27 Innovation Fellow to explore AI for science","summary":"David Siegel SM ’86, PhD ’91 will serve as MIT’s Innovation Fellow for the 2026-27 academic year, working with the Schwarzman College of Computing to examine how artificial intelligence can speed scientific discovery.  The former Two Sigma co‑founder, who retired from day‑to‑day management in 2024 but remains co‑chair, brings a blend of technical expertise, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.\n\nSiegel founded the nonprofit Open Athena in 2024 to close the resource gap between academic labs and frontier AI.  Open Athena is building Marin, a 535‑billion‑parameter foundation model that will be released publicly with all data and experiments shared in real time.  Through his Siegel Family Endowment, established in 2011, he supports organizations such as the Scratch Foundation, Khan Academy and the Aspen Institute, and sits on several advisory boards.  His appointment follows a history of deep ties to MIT, including graduate work in the AI Lab and co‑chairing the External Advisory Committee for the Schwarzman College of Computing.","keyPoints":["David Siegel will serve as MIT Innovation Fellow for the 2026-27 academic year.","Siegel founded Open Athena in 2024, which is developing the 535‑billion‑parameter public model Marin.","Siegel co‑founded Two Sigma in 2001 and remains co‑chair after retiring from day‑to‑day management in 2024."],"whyItMatters":"His fellowship links a leading AI investor and philanthropist with MIT’s computing college, potentially accelerating AI‑driven scientific discovery and public‑access models.","category":{"slug":"research","name":"Research","url":"https://digestai.news/category/research"},"entities":{"companies":["MIT","Two Sigma","Open Athena","Bloomberg Philanthropies","Google","The Huang Foundation"],"models":["Marin"],"people":["David Siegel","Sally Kornbluth","Anantha Chandrakasan","Dan Huttenlocher","Mitch Resnick","Jeffrey Sonnenfeld"]},"firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-23T15:30:00Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-23T15:30:00Z","sourceCount":1,"hasPrimarySource":true,"sources":[{"outlet":"MIT News on AI","title":"MIT welcomes David Siegel SM ’86, PhD ’91 as its next Innovation Fellow","url":"https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-welcomes-david-siegel-innovation-fellow-0923","publishedAt":"2026-09-23T15:30:00Z","type":"primary","primary":true,"lead":true}],"sourceNotes":null,"discussions":[],"thread":null,"cite":{"text":"Digest AI, \"MIT welcomes David Siegel as 2026-27 Innovation Fellow to explore AI for science\", 23 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/mit-welcomes-david-siegel-as-2026-27-innovation-fellow-to-explore-ai-f","publisher":"Digest AI","title":"MIT welcomes David Siegel as 2026-27 Innovation Fellow to explore AI for science","datePublished":"2026-09-23T15:30:00Z","url":"https://digestai.news/story/mit-welcomes-david-siegel-as-2026-27-innovation-fellow-to-explore-ai-f"},"generatedBy":"Written by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources; the sources are the record.","license":"Headlines, digests and key points are written by Digest AI and may be quoted with a link to the story page. Linked articles belong to their publishers. Terms: https://digestai.news/terms#reuse"}