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Join the the Artificial Intelligence Student Organization, RAISE, at the Crummer Graduate School of Business and Rollins College, to discuss the reality and implications of AI in the business and academic world.
Episode 1
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Janet: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to our new podcast series, AI Across the Campus and Beyond. Our guest today is Dr. Jay Leibowitz. He's the Professor of Business Innovation and Industry Transformation, and he's also the Director of the new AI Edge Center at the Crummer Graduate School of Business right here at Rollins.
Moving forward, the Crummer and Rollins AI Student Organization, RAISE, will host this monthly series. It will feature Rollins faculty who are involved in AI across the campus. We'll also have invited guests who are involved in AI in industry, government, and non profits. Thank you for joining us, Dr.
Leibowitz. We're thrilled to have you kick off the series. First let me ask you, what's happening in AI in education and why is it important?
Jay: Well, thanks Janet, and it's a pleasure to. be the inaugural speaker as part of our new AI Across the Campus and Beyond series. [00:01:00] And, um, AI is such a hot topic. I'm so glad we can share some of our perspectives with the broader audience, both here at, at Rollins and Cromer, but certainly the external community as well.
So, With regard to AI in education, it's been shown that artificial intelligence can truly deepen learning and there was a conference last year at Stanford. It was the AI in education conference and there were several key points that were made. The first was that AI really has the potential to to support learner self confidence by enabling learning without fear of judgment.
So that's a nice attribute of AI. And then in addition to that, AI certainly can contribute to adaptive and personalized learning. So based on the student's learning style. So there are just some great benefits for using AI. In fact, there was a book that came out this past year [00:02:00] called Teaching with AI.
Many of our faculty at Rollins, uh, actually read it over the summer, uh, as well as at Crummer. And it's by Jose Bowen and Watson, uh, and the publishers, the American Association of Colleges and Universities. And so Jose Bowen, he talks about the three R's, the new three R's for education. And he says there's, Relationships.
So thinking in communities, resilience. So being adaptive and being able to pivot and reflection. So instant feedback without judgment. So today, as you know, we have such easy access to content. But we do have to be careful what's true or not. Uh, actually I had a book that came out this past fall called regulating hate speech created by generative AI.
And it talks about the issues of, uh, deep fakes and, [00:03:00] and seeing things that aren't really true, even though the gen AI system might be. might say that they are. So there is that issue of hallucination. So we also have to continue to stress to our students, you know, to be careful. Uh, we, we want our students to learn how to learn and certainly AI could be a role in that.
And, uh, In addition, next May, I believe it's May 28th through the 30th, there will be the Teaching and Learning and AI Conference, which will be held in Orlando, uh, at UCF. Um, and so there's a lot of interest in this whole area. Actually, uh, More on the executive side, at Krummer, we're planning to have a one day AI for Executives boot camp, which is scheduled on February 28th, uh, coming up, and we'll have a number of AI summits.
So, just to kind of give you a feeling [00:04:00] for what's being done in education, There was a board of trustees survey, which was done in the U. S. and it looked, uh, 10 years out. And it showed that more than 40 percent of the trustees are now concerned about the future of higher ed. And many are very interested in the impact of AI.
Uh, actually, uh, Um, a few weeks ago, October 5th at the board of trustees meeting at Rollins, we had a morning session talking for a few hours to the trustees about AI and an AI strategy, uh, and ideas, uh, for moving forward. In the AI space here at Rollins. But, um, this whole area is so important. You're starting to see colleges and universities, uh, certainly along with government agencies and businesses having a new role in the organization called the chief AI officer to help them.
implement AI [00:05:00] strategies across the organization. So for example, the University of Miami recently advertised for a chief AI officer as part of their IT leadership team. I know that Turrell University this past January, um, and it's worldwide, it's headquartered in New York City, They created a new position as associate provost for AI to infuse AI into the 30 plus programs across their 18 campuses.
And we're seeing more colleges and universities looking toward this opportunity, I think here at. At Rollins, uh, this is certainly an area for further, uh, investigation just to kind of round things up, even if you look at different states. So, uh, governor Murphy of New Jersey announced this past February, their AI.
in New Jersey initiative with Princeton University, and it includes about a 500, 000 AI focused [00:06:00] global entrepreneur in residence program at state universities in New Jersey. Also a 2 million fund for AI education in K through 12. And also created a four and a half million dollar AI innovation challenge career development program.
Uh, Connecticut, uh, is working to create perhaps the first country's, uh, Citizens AI Academy, which will be a free online repository of curated classes that users can take to learn, uh, basic skills or obtain a certificate needed for employment. And, uh, I worked last summer in Governor Shapiro's office in Pennsylvania, and I know data analytics and AI were important topics as well.
So just to finish things up, uh, looking at AI in education, uh, here at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, um, we are standing [00:07:00] up a new AI center. This fall, it's geared for executives. We call it AI edge for artificial intelligence, for executive decision making governance and execution. So you're going to hear more about, uh, how we can infuse AI into, uh, the, the college, uh, as well as into industry and beyond.
So, um, I hope that gives you kind of a, an overall. feeling for what's being done across, um, across this area of AI in education.
Janet: Wow. It certainly sounds like there are a lot of things coming up. Uh, thinking about the future, what do you see as the university of the future and how does AI play a role?
Jay: Yeah.
So I actually was fortunate to edit a book, uh, maybe two years ago called Digital Transformation for the University of the Future. [00:08:00] And there were a number of key elements that, um, that were, uh, derived from, from the book. And so let me highlight just a few of these in the interest of time. Uh, the first is I think we're going to continue to see.
interdisciplinary education. So if you do some work in social or organizational network analysis, you typically see, it's the weak ties, it's the relationships you set up or establish outside your own field where you get a lot of the innovation and creativity. So interdisciplinary education I think will continue to be important for people to innovate.
There will also be, um, a stress, uh, on lifelong learning in associated programs. So even this podcast series, um, was playing tennis, uh, [00:09:00] yesterday. And, uh, the fellow I was playing was a dentist and he was. talking a little about how AI is being used in his office, but he wanted to learn a little more. And he actually, uh, said, I want, I want to tune into this podcast.
So, so you see a lot of interests in different fields. There will also be. re and upskilling programs in addition to the, you know, the traditional academic degree program. So we're going to see micro certificates. I was actually down in Miami last month and the Miami Dade public school system is already piloting AI courses throughout some of their high schools, as well as even, uh, having an AI academy for training, uh, the teachers in this whole field of AI.
And, um, and so you're going to see even at, at Miami Dade, [00:10:00] uh, uh, college, they have received an NSF grant to look at AI in the workforce. And, um, you're gonna see different types of specialized programs that may not be very traditional, uh, that will come out of, uh, those types of activities. AI assisted virtual assistants will also continue, I think, to be important for the university of the future.
Uh, we're seeing this already for helpdesks. And customer service applications at the university. I remember even some years ago when IBM Watson was all the rage, there was a professor of computer science at Georgia tech, and he developed what he called Jill Watson. And this was a, um, uh, a chat bot that would help.
his computer science introductory students answer questions that they [00:11:00] have. And, um, and this was a pretty big class. So at the end of the semester, he asked the students, which assistant, which TA helped you the most. And it turned out they said Joe Watson without knowing that Joe Watson was really an intelligent chatbot.
So there's some great applications and I think this will continue. We know the metaverse is on the horizon and I think extended reality classrooms will be part of the University of the future. And I think we'll continue to see close cooperation. Uh, with industry and government and NGOs with universities, and maybe we'll experiment with new models like we have software as a service, maybe we'll have knowledge as a service and we'll push that out in certain packaged elements, uh, to, to different stakeholders.
So those are a few thoughts for the university of the future. It's [00:12:00] very exciting. Um, and, uh, we'll, we'll see what unfolds.
Janet: Definitely. Well, we know that AI is. Everywhere. Can you give us an idea of what do you think the impact of AI will be?
Jay: Well, let me take you back a few years. I've been involved in AI since the early 80s. And, uh, with expert systems technology, which, which are computer programs that emulate human experts in different fields. And it's funny, I asked our students, How old do you think the AI field is? And they said about 10 years.
So it actually is close to 70 years old. It was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at Stanford at the famous Dartmouth, uh, conference. And it's funny because over the years, over the past 40 years, I've seen the springs and the winters of AI where [00:13:00] funding has dried up and, and then there's been some hype.
And then certainly today, Over the past maybe eight or nine years with machine learning advancements. And now the whole gen AI craze, uh, you're seeing just tremendous interest in the resurgence in AI. And I think part of it is that maybe we have found the killer app or one of the killer apps for AI, which might be These generative AI systems.
So whether it's chat GPT or Google's Gemini or Anthropics Claude, or here at Rollins, we have Microsoft's co pilot, and these are built on large language models and machine learning and. You just see tremendous adoption over the past two years, uh, for these types of, of, uh, gen AI, uh, apps. So with the PC, the killer app was [00:14:00] probably word processing, electronic spreadsheets.
But I think now, certainly one of the killer apps for AI that we've needed. is this whole gen AI, uh, types of systems. So there have been studies that have looked at this area. There was one by Harvard and MIT and Wharton at Penn, and they took a look at the use of gen AI among hundreds of consultants working for the Boston Consulting Group and the findings.
were that they, even over a complete range of tasks, they found that those who used the Gen AI systems were able to produce, uh, higher productivity than those who didn't. And, actually, there was about a 40 percent increase in productivity among those enterprise workers. Gartner, um, which actually, uh, um, Jess [00:15:00] had their annual, uh, kind of it expo conference here in Orlando, uh, this past week, they predicted that by 2025, 95 percent of business decisions will at least be partially automated via AI.
So there's just tremendous interest. I mean, the Boston consulting group, they found that about 90. percent of their innovation leaders are already using AI to identify new activities. And you're going to continue to see these trends. So the people who are at greatest risk are not so much those whose jobs will be replaced by AI, but rather those individuals who don't use AI as tools to better inform their decision making.
So what are we seeing worldwide? Well, Singapore, for example, is offering AI education subsidy for citizens over 40. Um, [00:16:00] this past June, the European Union passed into law the EU AI Act. It's the first worldwide AI legislation. And then here in the U S under president Biden. In this, the National Institutes for Standards and Technology, we stood up the U.
S. AI Safety Institute. So, um, so there's just tremendous, uh, interest and impact, potential impact in this area. I still favor the human centered approach to AI, where the human is, is in the loop. And, and I often wonder, that maybe we should have called, instead of saying AI, we might have used IA. So instead of artificial intelligence, maybe we should have said intelligence amplification in order to facilitate the decision making of an individual in that, you know, [00:17:00] AI would be a decision support aid instead of replacing someone.
So keeping that human in the loop. So, um, those are, you know, a few, uh, thoughts regarding potential impact of AI in what we're seeing.
Janet: Well, I think you've already told us some of the future trends. Anything else that you want to add? Yeah.
Jay: Aside from this human centered AI, uh, movement. I think, uh, related to that is the, the field of in community of folks working on what's called responsible AI.
So AI ethics is so important, uh, looking at fairness and transparency, In eliminating algorithmic bias. So even in different organizations, now we're seeing digital ethicists or AI ethicists being hired, which is kind of a new role. Uh, we're going to continue to see increased personalization. Through AI [00:18:00] machine learning.
Um, I'm actually teaching a course this fall, uh, here at Cromer at Rollins called leveraging AI for business innovation, uh, which I think will be key for organizations. And every class, the first hour I bring in a speaker, uh, who's done work in AI in different fields. So there's just a tremendous activity.
Uh, that's being done. I think along the lines of AI chatbots to deliver personalization, we're going to see More emphasis put into voice assistance and what's called conversational AI, even for the metaverse. So the metaverse is, you know, virtual world, it's becoming more popular, especially among the younger generations.
And there've been a few studies that have shown that even a significant number of global executives, 71 percent to be exact, said they're [00:19:00] optimistic about the positive impact of the metaverse in their organizations. And many are already, uh, engaging with customers, uh, through the metaverse and, and through other conversational AI techniques.
So related to that, we're going to start to see some of these AI chatbots, uh, which will try to have emotional intelligence. So I do some work in the intuition, what I call the intuition based decision making area. So Um, but I think we'll, we'll start to see this whole field of emotional AI, uh, grow. And, um, uh, a few weeks ago I was at Emory University in Atlanta.
They actually have a lab called the Empathetic AI Lab. And they're looking at emotional intelligence and, and how these chatbots, Could be more human like, if you will. And so, uh, so those are maybe a few [00:20:00] trends that, uh, that you might hear about in the coming years.
Janet: Hmm. You've touched on this a little bit.
But people are a little bit worried about AI and how it may affect us. Can you explore that a little bit more?
Jay: Yeah. In fact, uh, one of our grandsons, who's three, He often might say, that's scary. And, um, and so there was a scary report, which was called the Gladstone report. It was commissioned by the U S state department.
It was published back, I believe, uh, in March of this year. And it indicated an alarming. picture of catastrophic national security risk posed by this rapidly evolving AI. And the findings were based on interviews with more than 200 people over more than a year. And these included top executives from some of the leading AI [00:21:00] companies, cybersecurity researchers, weapons of mass destruction experts and national security officials inside the government.
And so there are some key concerns. Um, I, I, uh, recently finished reading a book. It came out this year. Uh, it was by Mergia, that's her last name. She's the Financial Times and Wired Editor for AI. And the book is called Code Dependent Living in the Shadow of AI. And it stresses that the data workers that are involved in data production and labeling of those AI tools are really the invaluable human links in the global AI supply chain.
So these are people who are typically in low income countries that are doing the data annotation jobs and I never thought about that whole, um, community of folks, uh, in order for these AI tools. To [00:22:00] have the capabilities that they have today. Unfortunately though, many of these people might be treated as replaceable automatons, kind of inferior to their peers and other countries around the world.
So that's, that's, uh, kind of a scary risk, if you will, uh, on the energy side, there's been a lot of talk about AI as a growing consumer of electricity. And it's impact on the power grid as a topic of concern. So on the demand side, uh, of course, there are AI data centers, uh, around the world, and they're a major consumer of Of electricity and projections suggest that demand will continue to increase dramatically in the coming years.
So, for example, Goldman Sachs predicts that data centers will count for 8 percent of the U. S. power usage by [00:23:00] 2030, which would be up by 3%. In 2022, if you look at greenhouse gas emissions, Google says that its total greenhouse gas emissions increased nearly 50 percent over five years, mostly due to electricity that powers these AI data centers.
And if you look at the AI computational power, it's projected to double every 100 days. Which would increase global energy demand by about 26 to 36 percent annually. So certainly AI can be used to improve electricity usage efficiency in terms of shifting tasks and modeling and resource integration, but the effect that it might have.
On the environment is, uh, certainly a major risk. Uh, and then, as I've mentioned before, we just have to make sure that we teach our students and others not to take the output [00:24:00] of AI systems at face value and to, uh, try to validate some of that. So these are some potential risks that you, you might, uh, hear about in, in, in the coming years for sure.
Janet: Well, you mentioned students, and so they are probably most interested in AI in the workforce. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Jay: Yeah, sure. So, uh, you're seeing AI, whether it's at home, in the workplace, health, transportation. It's just quite pervasive. So let me give you a few data points. Uh, the World Economic Forum out of Geneva, Switzerland, they predict that six in ten current workers will require additional training in AI and big data within the next four years.
Um, another study showed that one third of the U. S. workforce has no or limited digital skills. Uh, actually here in [00:25:00] Florida, uh, 90 percent of Florida jobs from different surveys require digital skills. So that's kind of close to the U S average of 92%. And then, um, a few, uh, I guess it was last month Forbes article and they mentioned a new study that about three quarters of employees are lost on how to use AI, uh, in their jobs.
So while almost three quarters of the employees say that their employees, uh, uh, I'm sorry, of their employers say that their employees are at least adequately trained on AI, only about half of the employees believe they are, and nearly half of the employers say they haven't yet implemented. AI because of their company's data is not ready.
So before you can really have a very good, um, set of AI initiatives within the organization, you have to make sure [00:26:00] that your internal data quality is cleansed. It's not siloed in that you have a very good data strategy and governance structure. One third of employees from this study said that they need more training around data before their company is ready to support AI.
So, um, So we're going to hear more about AI in the workforce. Um, there was another, uh, sorry to give you all these different resources, but if people want to follow up, there was a nice book written this past year called the AVI AI savvy leader by David de Kramer. He's the Dean at Northeastern's business school in Boston.
And he talks about that business leaders don't have to become AI experts. Rather, they just need to understand that, um, they should be AI savvy enough to recognize the benefits of AI, uh, for the organization and its stakeholders, [00:27:00] and to understand, you know, what the potential limitations are of the technology.
So he talks also about the importance of a human centered AI approach. And here's a great line. I'm going to quote his line in his book. He says, You cannot worship the efficient powers of AI and at the same time treat employees as lines of code to be deployed. That's a great quote. Great quote. So, you know, it's so important to keep us in the loop, keep us part of the conversation and decision making.
Um, I'll just highlight one or two other, uh, quick, uh, studies that were done. The U. S. Department of Labor recently developed some AI principles for developers and employers. And some of the top principles talked about centering worker empowerment, and, Ethically developing AI, establishing AI governance and human oversight, and [00:28:00] ensuring transparency in AI use.
So there was a study done, the last one I'll highlight, um, it's called the AI Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium. This was back in July. It's led by Cisco, along with, uh, industry leaders like Accenture and Google and IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, SAP and others, and they released its inaugural report. It's called the Transformational Opportunity of AI on ICT Jobs.
ICT is Information and Communications Technology, uh, Jobs. And they said that 92% Of these jobs are going to undergo either high or moderate transformation due to advancements in AI, and they cited the top 10 technical skills expected to increase in relevance and the top three were AI ethics and responsible AI.
AI literacy and prompt engineering. [00:29:00] So, um, so it's very interesting, you know, to see how AI is already penetrating the workforce. And, um, we'll, we'll certainly hear more about this in the coming years.
Janet: Well, that's really informative. Chock full of good stuff. Any tips for businesses and higher ed institutions as we move forward in this area?
Jay: Yeah. So I know I'm probably running short on time, so I'll just highlight a few ideas, uh, for. Maybe first starting at trying to develop an enterprise wide AI strategy, and this really echoes many of the writings to that you find. So you have to cultivate an AI ready workforce, provide the proper, you know, training and nurturing and encouragement from senior leadership.
You AI activities within the organization's data strategy, make sure that, um, that they, they work, um, properly. Uh, very well [00:30:00] synergistically, you want to build an AI governance structure and then support AI adoption with an implementation framework. So in terms of maybe strategies for educating the AI workforce as it relates to us and In the higher ed field, we want to incorporate AI into existing degree programs.
Um, we shouldn't ignore AI's limitations. We have to be very mindful of what it can and can't deliver at this point. You want to raise bias awareness. You want to eliminate, uh, algorithmic bias as best you can, uh, develop some means of testing and validating AI. Address the legal implications. Uh, in fact, um, we have done some work years ago looking at the use, non use, and misuse of AI from a legal perspective, and then certainly, you know, make sure we're not in our ivory towers and include real world experience, and that's what we're [00:31:00] trying to do here at Rollins and at Crummer.
Janet: Well, thank you so much, Dr. Jay Leibovitz, for sharing your knowledge with us. We look forward to continuing our AI Across the Campus and Beyond monthly podcast series, and we welcome the broader Rollins Crummer and Orlando community to join us.
Jay: Thanks so much, Janet, and hope this was helpful and look forward to our future podcasts.