With the backdrop of a city that is evolving new strategies for inclusion and opportunity around the technology of artificial intelligence, The University of Baltimore's Center for Artificial Intelligence Learning and Community-Engaged Innovation (CAILI) will host its annual AI Summit on Thursday, June 4, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in UBalt's John and Frances Angelos Law Center, 1401 N. Charles St. The one-day conference is free and open to the public. Registration is required; details are listed below.
For the past several years, CAILI has invited regionally- and nationally-known experts to deliver both their findings and their predictions about AI at this cornerstone event. Now, as a result of an intentional effort to understand what the city is doing to ensure that this technology is being used wisely―crossing all boundaries, and focused on the development of the next generation of tech-fluent individuals―the summit will describe Baltimore's "AI Persona Landscape."
This landscape, according to Dr. Jessica Stansbury, founding director of CAILI and a nationally known researcher and commentator on AI in learning and its impact on mental health, is rapidly evolving―perhaps a reflection of the technology itself. Building AI apps, for example, will require a focus that brings together all of the personas, in a way that encourages shared innovation.
"After spending the past several years exploring AI, by building curriculum, training, establishing norms and looking at the technology and its impact through a variety of lenses, The University of Baltimore and its various constituencies can pause to ask ourselves a serious question: When it comes to AI, who are we planning and building for? Why are we in this mode?" Stansbury says. "This persona work provides us with a compass that can help us move with community, industry, the workforce, and education, rather than to or for. This provides the opportunity to build a collaborative ecosystem that reflects all of the perspectives on display among the personas―not as a later addition, but from the start."
Dr. Stansbury will lead a discussion on that topic during the morning half of the summit. Dr. Amen Ra Mashariki, director of AI and data strategies for the Bezos Earth Fund and chair of CAILI's advisory board, is scheduled to attend that discussion as well.
Immediately following, a panel discussion, "How Can Baltimore's AI Personas Inform Strategy, Engagement, and Opportunity?," will bring together guest speakers Elena Quiroz-Livanis, interim secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission (expected to attend), Maryland Secretary of Labor Portia Wu, Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen, and Shelonda Stokes, president of the Downtown Partnership. Dr. Greg Walsh, the Bob "PXG" Parsons Professor of Digital Communication, Commerce, and Culture at UBalt, will serve as moderator.
Following these discussions, David Grossblatt, J.D. '97, an investor, advisor, and technologist, will offer his perspective on constitutional law in the age of AI.
The summit's after-lunch sessions will feature a convening of four town halls, covering a range of topics and taking place concurrent in break-out rooms. Attendees can stop in as many of these sessions as they'd like. The town halls are:
Following the town halls, a final session, "What Baltimore's Personas Teach Us," will showcase a live synthesis of the summit's key conclusions and a roadmap for further exploration of the most important topics. The project's next steps will be a key deliverable for this session. To register for the AI Summit, go here.
Funding for the user-based persona work was provided by Green and Healthy Homes Initiatives.
Learn more about UBalt's Center for AI Learning and Community-Engaged Innovation.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, The University of Baltimore School of Law and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.