AI and Us:
Upcoming Events

With Fran Berman Director of the Public Interest Technology Initiative, Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor and Laura Haas Professor and former Dean, Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at UMass

Facial recognition, AI, and data analysis are powerful tools that are being used by ICE to target both immigrants and protestors. Join UMass faculty Francine Berman and Laura Haas for an exploration of how these technologies are enabling ICE and what societal guardrails might contain them. The session will start with a short presentation on the technology, followed by discussion and Q&A.

Sponsored by the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences and the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass.

 Facilitated by Dan Cannity (IT) and Kirsten Helmer (CTL)

AI agents and tailored chatbots are becoming popular in higher education as a tool to support students in responsible use of AI. They can be used to provide answers about syllabi, to help tutor students on specific course content, to aid in studying material through creating unique case studies, or to create simulation-like experiences where students practice disciplinary skills—such as in engaging in dialogue or conversation practices, role-playing professional scenarios, exploring topics from multiple perspectives, or engaging in structured debates with a specialized agent. This hands-on workshop will guide you through creating a custom chatbot for your course using the UMass GenAI Platform Agent. This is designed for those who have some experience with generative AI tools, but are new to Agents, although all are welcome to join. Lunch is provided. 

Co-facilitated by the Center for Teaching & Learning and IDEAS. 

Arvind will be joining us over zoom and we have a room in the new computer science building where participants can gather to watch and participate in person. Register to attend here and let us know if you will be in-person or online.

In this talk, based on an essay and ongoing book project with Sayash Kapoor, Arvind Narayanan will articulate a vision of artificial intelligence as “normal technology,” in contrast to both utopian and dystopian visions that treat AI as a potentially superintelligent entity. Our framework predicts that the impacts of advanced AI, even if transformative, will unfold slowly, making a critical distinction between AI methods, AI applications, and AI adoption. I will discuss a potential division of labor between people and AI in the world with advanced AI and examine the implications of AI as normal technology for AI policy, AI safety, and human progress.

Arvind Narayanan is a professor of computer science at Princeton University and the director of the Center for Information Technology Policy. He is a co-author of the book AI Snake Oil, the essay AI as Normal Technology, and a newsletter of the same name which is read by over 60,000 researchers, policy makers, journalists, and AI enthusiasts. He previously co-authored two widely used computer science textbooks: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies and Fairness in Machine Learning. Narayanan led the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project to uncover how companies collect and use our personal information. His work was among the first to show how machine learning reflects cultural stereotypes. Narayanan was one of TIME’s inaugural list of 100 most influential people in AI. He is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

Presented by the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass and co-sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences AI and Us Series

Timnit will be joining us over zoom and we have a room in the new computer science building where participants can gather to watch and participate in person. Register to attend here and let us know if you will be in-person or online.

Dr. Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR). Prior to that she was fired by Google in December 2020 for raising issues of discrimination in the workplace, where she was serving as co-lead of the Ethical AI research team. Timnit also co-founded Black in AI, a nonprofit that works to increase the presence, inclusion, visibility and health of Black people in the field of AI, and is on the board of AddisCoder, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching algorithms and computer programming to Ethiopian and Jamaican highschool students. She has received a number of accolades including being named one of Nature’s Ten people who helped shape science and one of TIME 100’s most influential people. She is currently writing a memoir + manifesto arguing for a technological future that serves our communities instead of one that is used for surveillance, warfare, and the centralization of power by Silicon Valley.

Presented by the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass and co-sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences AI and Us Series

Presenter: Christian Rojas, Resource Economics 

Facilitators: Colleen Kuusinen and Kirsten Helmer (CTL), and Dan Cannity (IT) 

Join us for a special session that brings together our GenAI Discussion Group and our SoTL Working Group – formed by faculty interested in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. This mashup creates a unique opportunity to explore AI integration through both practical implementation and scholarly inquiry.  

Guest presenter Christian Rojas’ talk combines research insights from a controlled GenAI teaching study with practical examples from an AI-centered undergraduate course. He will demonstrate how scaffolding, transparency, and structured student workflows support effective and ethical AI integration across assignments, projects, and presentations. Following the presentation, we’ll open the floor for attendees to ask questions and connect the lessons to their own teaching contexts.  

Whether you're actively researching your teaching, curious about bringing a more systematic lens to your pedagogical experiments with AI or simply want to learn from colleagues who are documenting their classroom innovations, this session offers a welcoming space to engage with evidence-based approaches to GenAI.  

The guest presenter will be on Zoom 11:30 am-12:30 pm. The session will then continue with discussion both in person and online. 

Co-facilitated by the Center for Teaching & Learning and IDEAS.