AI for the Greater Good

I’m interested in how AI affects organizations and organizational structures.

AI can be very useful, but it cannot do what humans do. Think about a programmer writing code. That’s a task. But a programmer in an organization does a variety of tasks that are related to one another in a very complex manner. You can replace every single one of these individual tasks that a person does with some sort of AI, but putting them together into a job? That’s a completely different challenge.

I work with pre-service and in-service teachers on how to use AI equitably and responsibly in their classrooms.

In my courses, I use AI to model how to differentiate instruction for students with disabilities and English language learners—an essential skill that many find challenging. For example, I upload a lesson plan to ChatGPT, along with the learning profiles of students who have academic or behavioral difficulties, and ask for differentiated instructional strategies. I evaluate the AI-generated ideas and use examples to demonstrate how teachers can best tailor instruction.

I examine the ethical implications of introducing AI into business.

Many companies are taking important steps toward ethical practice, and we’re eager to partner with them to translate ethical principles into effective, real-world applications. I'm optimistic. AI systems are complex processes that often involve many people, which makes it challenging for companies to fully grasp the ethical implications of their actions. But with thoughtful examination and critical thinking, it is absolutely possible.

I use AI to generate new philosophical insights into perennial questions about the nature of the mind and human language.

The increase in AI's ability to perform certain tasks will allow us to prioritize critical thinking, analysis, and contemplation of big questions, like ‘What are the things we value? ‘How do we want to live our lives? ' and ‘What do we want our societies to look like? The increasing power of AI makes those questions more salient and important to answer.

I’m interested in economic justice and the placement of AI infrastructure, such as data centers.

We did not have the opportunity to discuss economic justice during the Industrial Revolution, but we have that opportunity now with AI. When we’re building it, using it, and talking about it, we should be considering not just how it's going to be used to help the bottom line. We should be asking, ‘How is this going to maximize benefits to our neighbors and to ourselves, and to make our society better?”

My focus is on deep learning methodologies in AI to tap into business problems, such as working with designers to identify fashion trends based on runway data or determining whether an app is suitable for children.

In the past, you had to have a PhD to utilize natural language processing and image recognition to extract this kind of information. Now, with sweeping advancements in AI technology, everyone can perform information extraction. I teach my students how to do it.