The University of Baltimore has established a public-facing hub for creating knowledge, awareness and opportunity for artificial intelligennce technology—a growing area of interest in education, business, public service, and beyond. UBalt’s new Center for AI Learning and Community-Engaged Innovation (CAILI) is designed to support a wide range of interests in AI, by leveraging new and existing resources and partners to spark opportunities across Baltimore. In time, according to Dr. Jessica Stansbury, CAILI’s founding director, the center’s emphasis on collaborating with local experts will drive the technology’s capacity for problem solving at the local level, reinvigorating the city on a number of fronts.
"We're exploring what AI can do for Baltimore," Dr. Stansbury says. "It's a model based entirely in community engagement."
Imagine AI tasked with a common problem like identifying food deserts and optimizing urban garden locations, Stansbury says. The results would provide community leaders with data-driven solutions to improve access to fresh food in underserved neighborhoods.
"AI has tremendous potential to address urban challenges, but only when developed in partnership with the communities it aims to serve," she says. "CAILI can offer ways for experts to engage with AI that bridges technological innovation with local knowledge and lived experiences."
UBalt President Kurt L. Schmoke says CAILI represents the best of the University's widely recognized expertise in this burgeoning technology, taken from years of research and development in the classroom and brought out to the everyday world.
"We know that AI is already at work in our lives, and there’s certainly more of that coming in the future," Schmoke says. "What we're interested in is how we, as an anchor institution for the city, can increase our knowledge and comfort with it, so we can explore and even use it to solve problems. Educators, employers and policymakers describe it as 'AI literacy,' and we think that's just the start. CAILI is another way that the University is giving back to Baltimore, by sharing expertise, resources and more."
The center's goal is to equip "faculty, students, and the Baltimore community to responsibly engage with generative AI and artificial intelligence through ethical, equitable, and interdisciplinary learning, research, and innovation. Through meaningful collaboration and community partnerships, CAILI fosters AI fluency, drives social mobility, and applies technology to solve real-world challenges."
UBalt's Senior Vice President and Provost Ralph O. Mueller says CAILI will utilize and extend the University's strengths in engaging citizens on issues relevant to the wellbeing of our communities.
"The center will work with our external partners to advance and disseminate essential AI knowledge," Dr. Mueller says. "No doubt, empowerment through conscientious usage of AI benefits individuals as well as communities, thereby manifesting UBalt's anchor mission in the Baltimore region."
In the coming weeks, CAILI will announce an advisory committee, who will support the center regarding its priorities, goals, and responsibilities. The center also will solicit partnerships, collaborative situations, and opportunities to participate in new and existing work. As the center matures, the University is expecting its activities to grow both in scale and impact.