AI Future: Duke Summit Highlights
Source: today.duke.edu
Triangle AI Summit Explores the Future of AI
The recent Triangle AI Summit focused on increasing AI engagement and developing leadership skills to address AI's potential and risks. The summit brought together leaders from academia and industry to explore the future of AI.
Jun Yang stated that AI is here to stay, emphasizing the need to adapt and integrate AI as an extension of human intelligence.
Hosted by Provost Alec Gallimore, the Triangle AI Summit included approximately 450 in-person attendees with an additional 160 via livestream. The summit was organized by Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education (LILE), Duke Libraries, Duke Community Affairs, and Duke School of Nursing.
Gallimore noted that dialogue and collaboration are essential for navigating the future with AI and that building connections within the Triangle community was an important goal of the summit.
Duke's AI Initiatives
The summit showcased Duke's leadership in AI. Faculty across all schools are involved in AI research, supported by the provost’s initiative and steering committee. All undergraduate students have access to a prepaid license to ChatGPT-4o through a pilot project with OpenAI.
Tracy Futhey mentioned looking forward to future developments in the rapidly evolving field of AI.
Summit Highlights
Keynote speaker Cade Metz, from the New York Times, and panels of experts discussed AI's impact on society and scientific innovation. The summit featured a student panel, a teaching showcase with over 20 AI demos for classrooms, and workshops on AI as task-oriented assistants. Sessions highlighted both the benefits and potential dangers of AI, as well as its impact on the workforce and higher education.
Nicoleta Economou-Zavlanos shared examples of AI transforming healthcare, noting AI's potential to detect strokes in brain scans more effectively than humans. She also mentioned the benefits of ambient technologies that transcribe conversations to reduce clinician burnout.
Brinnae Bent discussed an AI-assisted medical device that helps individuals regain mobility. She also acknowledged the harmful impacts of AI, such as deepfake pornography and racially biased police technologies.
Yakut Gazi noted AI's disproportionate impact on women in the workforce. Speakers agreed that AI is not yet poised to replace humans in most jobs. Bent referenced Klarna's devaluation after replacing customer service representatives with AI to emphasize the value of humans in the workforce.
Metz urged consideration of AI's flaws, noting that humans excel at handling chaos and unexpected situations better than machines, which are better at recognizing patterns. He also mentioned that AI's “hallucinations” and reliance on unreliable data can fuel misinformation, according to Chris Bail. Jun Yang emphasized critical thinking when using AI. Duke sophomore Dara Ajiboy stated that education systems must adapt to the omnipresence of AI.
Duke’s AI steering and advisory committees will continue work on the AI Framework in the fall, creating opportunities for campus community engagement. To learn more, visit ai.duke.edu.