The University of Utah hosted the first student-led AI conference Symposium at the Marriott Library on Friday, November 21. In collaboration with Digital learning technologies (DLT), students pioneered the event to provide industry and academic professionals with insight into how AI is reshaping their educational experiences, according to the prospectus.
Tony Samsresponsible for the learning experience in DLT, initially pitched the idea for the event and collaborated with the Associate Vice President for Research Integrity and Compliance, Caren Frost. They worked with student co-presidents Logan Bogesvang, Nicholas Pardon, Diya Mandot and Jebediah Dean to organize the symposium, which attracted more than 120 participants throughout the day.
AI in higher education
Nvidia Warren Barkley, vice president of product management, who played a role in the creation of WiFi and Google Geminiwas the keynote speaker at the symposium. He discussed the future of the industry and gave tips for using it successfully. “Think of AI as a skill, not a spectacle,” he said during his speech.
Barkley emphasized the importance of ethics, trust and humanity in shaping the role of AI in the real world. “Getting things done is all about people,” he said.
Barkley also mentioned developments in AI as an important part of the conversation. He described multimodal AI, which uses audio, visual and written words to generate information, as a “tool” that users need to “figure out how to apply.”
Later in the symposium, students discussed their positive experiences, as well as their ethical concerns, with AI. At one point, Mandot and university student Rishabh Saini presented how they view the role of AI in education and society. “AI is an amplifier…it reveals who you already are,” Manot said. According to her, using AI in school should not be considered cheating, but “co-thinking”.
Other students explained how several sectors – nutrition, finance, renewable energy and medicine – use AI every day. Some students have designed their own AI products to accomplish tasks such as food planning and stock market forecasting.
The university panel
The symposium also hosted a panel discussion on the university’s responsibilities in AI. Panelists included the Director of AI Manish Parashar, Digital questions Director Rebecca Cummingsassociate professor of architecture Jim Agutter and director of research and science at the Institute for Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Penny Atkins.
Parashar said he was positive about the use of AI in higher education as it expands the capabilities of students and faculty. “It is our university’s responsibility to equip students with the skills to understand how to use AI and when to use it,” he said.
According to Parashar, the university values promoting accessibility to AI across the world. “We want everyone to have access to this technology,” while being “aware of the AI tools we use,” he said.
Cummings said the university’s responsibility is to “prepare students for life in the workforce,” which includes teaching students how to use AI effectively. She said she thinks the U is underperforming on that goal.
Agutter said it is the University’s responsibility to “give students a variety of perspectives.” He said his main goal is to teach students to think critically about how and when to use artificial intelligence.
The panel then discussed the ethical and practical use of AI in higher education. Atkins said teachers should use AI “to amplify us, not replace us.” For her, the best thing the university can do to improve knowledge of AI is to “have a dialogue with everyone about AI”.
Associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Engineering Sneha Kasera said it wants to implement AI education across all undergraduate studies, including core courses on machine learning and ethics specific to each discipline. “This needs to be a university-wide effort,” he said in the event’s closing remarks.
The role of students
Dean, one of the symposium co-chairs, said students need to get involved in the AI conversation, especially in higher education. “The students are from this environment; they grow up there and so they have a lot of experiences that are great to share with the professors,” he said.
He said he hopes the students who participated in the symposium will continue to help drive university or government policies. Hearing student voices will help guide the development of AI in the best possible way, because “they are the ones who will live with them.” [it].”
In an interview with the Daily Utah Chronicle, Barkley said events like the symposium are important because AI is “evolving so quickly.” [that people] we need to talk about it. He added that he values the students’ perspectives because of their energy and generational perspective.
John Thomasdirector of DLT, said: “there is going to have to be this ongoing conversation [about using AI] as higher education evolves. He said he views this annual symposium “as the cornerstone” of that conversation.
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