The “Falling Into AI” event represents a big step forward for KU, which organizers said has been deliberately measured in its AI adoption.
“We are, in some ways, a little behind other universities, but I think that’s because KU has been trying to be very intentional,” Ed Hudson, vice chancellor for information technology at KU and co-host of the event, said in a news release. “It’s an ever-changing topic, so unless you make huge investments, you can’t really be way out in front of it. We want to move thoughtfully into the academic, research and administrative spaces. So, this is a great opportunity to start having those conversations.”
The partnership with Google emerged organically from ongoing discussions about high-performance computing, Hudson said. When Google mentioned it had hosted similar events at other universities, Hudson said he saw it as an opportunity to take that measured approach to AI education and scale it up, helping make AI conversations accessible and tangible to a far-flung campus, home to about 30,000 students.
“Bringing in big providers like Google who come in and say, ‘These are the tools that we have and here’s some things that you can be doing as a student, here’s some things you can do as a faculty member, here's some things that [show] how health care is impacted by AI,’” he said. “That helps us curate those conversations.”
The event grew dramatically from how it was originally planned. Lisa Dieker, director of the Center for Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology and Education and co-host of the event, said what started as plans for “a luncheon in my little lab in the basement” grew to a three-hour kickoff event that currently has 200 registered attendees.
Google experts will deliver the keynote address at 1 p.m. Monday in the Kansas Union, with breakout sessions tailored for students, faculty and health-care professionals incorporating AI into their work. The sessions aim to address the practical reality that students and teachers alike will need to learn AI competencies “if they’re going to have jobs in the future,” Dieker said.
Faculty and staff will host open houses throughout the week, demonstrating real-world AI applications across disciplines. Many of the week’s sessions will be led by members of KU’s AI-focused think tank, and some will be available for virtual attendance, as well.
“That’s what I hope happens more and more here,” Dieker said. “The best research doesn’t come from one discipline, it comes when disciplines cross paths.”
Organizers said they envision Falling into AI becoming an annual tradition, and potentially expanding to include more schools or technology leaders.
