The “Day of AI” online event included a series of hands-on classroom activities and an interactive discussion panel kicked off by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and headed by experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MassMutual, Liberty Mutual and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Panelist included Daniella DiPaola from the MIT Media Lab; Steve Idowu, senior manager at Liberty Mutual; Alex Aronov, executive director of Vertex; and Sara Saperstein, MassMutual’s head of data science and cybersecurity.
Classes featured four hours of hands-on activities to engage students in topics such as teachable machines, can machines be creative, social media and information, personal image classification and careers in artificial intelligence.
Idowu said having diverse backgrounds and experiences promotes collaboration and growth.
“If we can overcome bias in AI, it will help set us up for an incredible future that you will help guide,” he said.
DiPaola said the most important thing for students to take away is how AI is used today and how it will be used in the future.
“AI is all around you. It is in YouTube, in TikTok and in Roblox, in systems we use every day,” DiPaola said.
AI, diversity and the importance of ethics have increasingly impacted careers in almost every industry, Saperstein said.
“It is not just if we can do something, but should we do something with AI,” Saperstein said. “It is not just math and science. It is really thinking deeply about what we are doing and how.”
More than 2,500 educators registered to participate including students at Chestnut Accelerated Middle School, Discovery High School and Pope Francis Prep.
“We wanted to do some things that are intentional around STEM education,” Polito said. “We made computer science a potential substitute for lab or math requirements as a part of your core curriculum.”
In addition, Polito highlighted training for educators around computer science, a change and update in digital literacy and computer science curriculum in Massachusetts.
According to Polito, students can start earning college credits in high school and have access to career pathways in the field.
The session ended with a question-and-answer session with students curious about AI taking over the world, taking over jobs, controlling cyber bullying and what new big ideas the future holds.
Aronov said he expects to see a synthesis of generative AI’s and human intelligence in the future. It’s an evolution Aronov describes as making more mundane tasks automated in the industries of art, painting, transportation and communications.
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