U of A cohort spurs AI adoption

The University of Arizona is equipping dozens of faculty members with the resources to harness artificial intelligence capabilities through its AI in a Domain cohort. The three-tiered program will provide AI training on a variety of tools that could improve a researcher's workflow.

ECE professor David Ebert, Computer Science Engineering Endowed Innovation Chair and Chief AI and Data Science Officer, spoke with Government Technology about the initiative. 

“We feel that our success is based on input from the entire community so that we understand the needs we have, the expertise and the ideas across campus,” he said. “The way to get more active engagement was to create a tiered program of involvement in our chief AI office.”

The inaugural cohort will include faculty from fields like engineering, health science, and art. The university has already selected more than 30 faculty members for the cohort and is finalizing associate director appointments.

“What I found is, there are many extremely smart people who are so busy with what they’re doing, they haven’t had the chance to see how to incorporate a number of these tools into what they do on a daily basis,” Ebert said. “Having a colleague be able to show them how they’re doing it is so much easier than a computer scientist coming in and saying, ‘Oh, AI could do this for you’ — they speak a different language.”