UMass Boston using $5M donation to create AI Institute
BOSTON -- UMass Boston is paving the way for their students to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into the workplace. It's all part of a huge donation from a prominent donor.
Paul English was the co-founder of Kayak. He is also a UMass Boston alum. He is donating $5 million to launch the AI program on campus. The school plans to expand AI training across the entire curriculum. For instance, nursing students may have their virtual reality training paired with AI. It would allow them to simulate evolving scenarios that mimic real life situations in a hospital.
"Maybe you said something insensitive to the patient, she is going to react like the patient would react," explains Kimberly Harrington a sim lab educator at UMass Boston, "Especially uncomfortable situations, you are going to know how you are going to react."
"You don't need to be a computer scientist to write code. Anyone with a product idea can now build apps using AI, and we are going to teach that to all the students at UMass Boston," tells English.
Students will also talk about the ethics and application of AI. English believes there are some people out there who believe AI may be coming for their jobs.
"I was saying [to a lawyer] you aren't going to lose your job to AI, but you might lose your job to another lawyer who uses AI," tells English.
"We need to develop both an ethical and an equitable frame for managing artificial intelligence moving forward," adds UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, "The closer we get to technology mimicking what we think are uniquely human competencies, the more we freak out! It's not the end of times, and it's not the cure for all human problems. We have very prominent ethicists and scholars who can be a part of that conversation."
Suarez-Orozco says groundbreaking technology tends to bring about greater inequality. This can be seen as wealthier schools get their hands on the tech first. He hopes this levels the playing field for their students. The Chancellor says UMass Boston is one of the most diverse universities in the country.
"At every turn, new technologies also created new forms of inequality, and we are at a point in our society where inequalities are a threat to the practice of democratic citizenship," adds Suarez-Orozco, "This will enable us to offer our students who are first-generation to college, immigrant origin kids, to have opportunities that will become taken for granted in the more elite schools. I want our students to have the same opportunities as the students on the other side of the river."