The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology’s new policy report, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations, addresses the clear need for sharing knowledge, engaging educators, and refining technology plans and policies for artificial intelligence (AI) use in education. The report describes AI as a rapidly-advancing set of technologies for recognizing patterns in data and automating actions, and guides educators in understanding what these emerging technologies can do to advance educational goals—while evaluating and limiting key risks. 

Purdue University researchers, led by Assistant Professor Alex Psomas, are collaborating with Indy Hunger Network to employ AI for automating the food collection initiative "Food Drop," aimed at reducing food waste and hunger. This initiative, which facilitates the donation of unsalable yet edible supermarket food, currently involves manual matching decisions that consume time and resources. The researchers are developing an AI-powered automation system to efficiently and fairly allocate donations to various food banks, thus increasing distribution equity and freeing up human resources for other essential tasks. The project addresses challenges of uncertainty and fairness, and its success could significantly impact food waste reduction and hunger alleviation.

During the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike, actor Simon Pegg shared his concerns about movie studios utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to draft scripts, fearing it would lead to a lack of artistic genesis in the work. A study conducted by Purdue University's Professor Sang Eun Woo explored how people's attitudes towards AI are influenced by their personality traits, specifically the "big five" personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. The research found that those high in neuroticism felt negatively about AI due to concerns about job displacement and privacy threats, while individuals high in openness were more positive about AI's potential to enhance human life and saw it as an opportunity for benefit rather than a threat.

While thermal imaging has been widely used in various fields, including military operations, healthcare, and law enforcement, it faces difficulties in producing high-quality images due to noise and clutter. To overcome this, researchers at Purdue University have developed an AI-based neural network program that separates the heat signature of objects from the environmental noise and clutter. By training the algorithm to recognize the unique emission spectra of different materials, the processed images can now show individual objects and their textures with higher detail, making it a potentially valuable tool for autonomous vehicles and future machine vision technology. 

You may already use your smartphone for remote medical appointments. Why not use some of the onboard sensors to gather medical data? That’s the idea behind AI-driven technology developed at Purdue University that could use a smartphone camera to detect and diagnose medical conditions like anemia faster and more accurately than highly specialized medical equipment being developed for the task. 

A three-day mid-May conference brought together 180 people at the tops of their fields in government, academe and the private sector to explore the theme, “ethics in the global innovation helix,” with particular attention to defining and confronting the big questions surfacing around AI. Among them: how to establish ethical and legal governance for AI; what AI means for the future of work; AI’s potential effects on diversity and equity; and the need to adapt education to AI ubiquity. 

In this reflective article on AI, the author shares their own commencement speech for the president of Purdue University, highlighting the university's commitment to advancing AI research, teaching with AI, and exploring the ethical and societal implications of artificial intelligence. 

Recently, the White House unveiled a series of groundbreaking initiatives in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), demonstrating its commitment to advancing the research, development, and implementation of "responsible AI." These initiatives aim to ensure that AI technologies are developed and deployed in a manner that prioritizes ethical considerations, accountability, and societal well-being. 

These initiatives encompassed the release of an updated federal roadmap for AI research and development, alongside a comprehensive report from the Education Department. The Biden White House also issues a request for public input on AI issues and hosts a listening session with workers.

The 2023 System-Wide Virtual Forum, open to all faculty and staff, is set to take place on September 21st from 10 a.m. to 4:40 p.m., with a central theme of "Reimagining Higher Education with Artificial Intelligence." The event will feature a keynote address by Chris Dede, a renowned senior research fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, known for his expertise in emerging technologies, policy, and leadership in education. The forum will include a series of breakout sessions ranging from 20 to 40 minutes, each focusing on exploring innovative AI applications in curriculum design, policy impact, diversity promotion, and responsible AI development in higher education. Registration is currently open, and the complete schedule is accessible on the forum's website, promising interactive and insightful sessions for educators, researchers, and industry professionals.