US Billionaire donates Oxford University £150m

Stephen Schwarzman, a confidant of President Trump and a private equity Billionaire makes the largest ever donation to Oxford University for a new institute that will study the ethics of artificial intelligence. The UK government said it was a “globally significant” investment in Britain.

Mr Schwarzman, the CEO of the private equity firm Blackstone, is one of the America’s best known billionaires. Some economists have warned the expansion of artificial intelligence could have a significant impact on society –including loss of jobs due to automation , the fourth industrial revolution. Mr Schwarzman also made a £279m gift to the Massachuetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to establish a centre for computing  and artificial intelligence.

Mr Schwarzman said it was “ Important for people to remember what being human is. Why are we here? What are your values? How does technology deal and interact with that. We should want it to be positive and productive for society and technology can’t be allowed to just do whatever it wants because it can.”

The gift to Oxford comes a few months after hedge-fund billionaire David Harding donated £100m to Cambridge University.