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HBCUs: AI in K-12 Outreach (2026 BEYA) · Futurecast by AI NEXTGEN America

0:00
Career Communications Group and the Baya
0:02
STEM Conference present H.B.CU's
0:05
AI in K through2 outreach.
0:09
>> Good afternoon everyone.
0:12
Uh welcome to our panel discussion today
0:16
on K12
0:18
K through 12 STEM outreach. Um that's
0:22
national security pipeline on how we
0:24
keep young people involved and engaged
0:27
in STEM. Um, but we're going to go ahead
0:30
and get started. Uh, I'm Kevin Norton. I
0:32
currently serve as the, uh, program
0:35
coordinator of the University of the
0:38
District of Columbia's Undergraduate
0:40
Research Center, um, in Washington DC.
0:45
Um, I previous uh, prior to this job,
0:48
which started on Monday, um, I was the K
0:52
through2 STEM outreach coordinator, um,
0:55
at the university. Uh good afternoon
0:58
everyone. I am Dr. An Sherura. I'm a
1:01
professor of marketing, AI and social
1:04
robotics in the school of business and
1:06
public administration at the University
1:08
of the District of Columbia in
1:09
Washington DC. I'm also the director for
1:12
AI, social robotics and behavioral
1:14
research lab at UDC. And I'm very happy
1:17
to be here today. So I'd like to thank
1:19
Dr. Norton and Dr. McCra out there for
1:21
the invitation. Thank you.
1:23
>> Yeah. Good afternoon everyone. Uh I'm
1:26
Ahmed Aurora and it's an honor to be
1:28
here at uh the Bay 2026 conference. Uh
1:32
I'm a professor of supply chain
1:34
management and uh AI at the University
1:36
of the District of Colombia in
1:38
Washington DC. We are uh the only public
1:41
institution in Washington DC and uh we
1:44
are also an H.B.CU. So we are really
1:46
proud of that fact and uh we are also
1:49
another distinction is that we are the
1:51
only uh public land grant urban land
1:55
grant institute in the entire country.
1:57
So that really makes us very very
1:59
unique. Um so uh I'm the PI for uh a few
2:03
NSF grants u and one of the grants we
2:07
have started a new concentration in AI
2:09
and robotics. Uh so very fortunate to
2:11
start that new program at UDC and uh
2:13
really happy to be with all the esteemed
2:15
participants over here and I think we're
2:17
going to have a very good discussion.
2:18
>> We'll be best friends. I mean we're
2:20
neighbors already. I'm his neighbor at
2:23
um Howard University. My name is Dr.
2:25
Titha Washington. So I'm in the office
2:27
of the provost. I'm the executive
2:28
director for the center for applied data
2:30
science analytics and I also co-chair
2:33
our president's AI advisory council
2:36
along with our amazing provost. So my
2:38
day-to-day job is thinking about data,
2:40
analytics, AI across the university
2:43
enterprise, including research,
2:45
education, operations, and partnerships.
2:48
And so really looking forward to this
2:50
conversation today around AI and K12. As
2:53
we know, there's been a lot of calls uh
2:55
for this, not only from us, but also uh
2:59
from a national um places as well, and
3:02
look forward to uh the conversation
3:04
today.
3:05
>> All righty. Thank you. So let's just
3:07
start uh with our discussion talking
3:09
about the current landscape. Um are you
3:12
able to share with us from your
3:14
perspective and what you're doing what
3:16
are the current K through 12 AI programs
3:20
that are focused on national security
3:22
and STEM and that are doing the work
3:24
that we are encouraging folks to do.
3:27
>> So just to start with the UDC I know
3:29
Amita mentioned about the AI robotics
3:31
programs that we have started in the
3:33
school of business. So I know these
3:34
programs are very common in the school
3:36
of engineering but as a university we
3:38
are trying to have our programs in AI in
3:40
all disciplines possible and as much as
3:42
interdisciplinary as possible. So AI is
3:45
not just for the engineers AI is also
3:47
for the business people AI is also for
3:49
the CAS the college of arts and sciences
3:51
and even for the UDC community college.
3:53
Um having said that you know I run the
3:56
uh the u AI social robotics and
3:58
behavioral research lab and as a part of
4:00
the lab we work with K12 uh DC public
4:03
school system uh especially with
4:05
students who are diagnosed with autism
4:07
spectrum disorder and I'll tell you more
4:09
about you know what we do as a part of
4:10
the lab but basically the way we're
4:12
targeting we're targeting three uh
4:14
public schools in the district which is
4:16
uh the high school in northeast uh
4:19
Jackson Reed High School in northwest
4:22
and then we have an Aostia High School
4:24
in southeast and basically you know
4:26
we're trying to cover all the dynamic
4:28
all the population of of the DC but at
4:30
the same time we're looking at the
4:31
underrepresented uh communities and
4:33
we're looking at students who are
4:34
diagnosed with uh autism spectrum
4:36
disorder and other learning disabilities
4:38
and trying to see how AI and robotics
4:41
can be helpful uh for this vulnerable
4:44
population of ours. So I I'll talk more
4:46
about it as we go ahead. But these are
4:48
the different programs that we have at
4:49
the school of business and also school
4:51
of engineering at UDC.
4:53
>> Well, uh I think when we talk about
4:55
national security, it's become a very
4:57
broad-based concept now. It's not just
4:59
about the physical borders that we have
5:01
to protect. It's also about cyber
5:03
security. It's about AI security, data
5:06
security. So all that really defines
5:08
national security now. And I think these
5:09
are all very important issues. and uh
5:12
the front line has moved from the
5:14
borders to the classrooms. So that's
5:18
where we need the talent. We need to
5:19
develop the talent in the K to2 level so
5:22
that they are ready for the national
5:24
security programs and to protect the
5:26
borders. So uh a few things uh apart
5:29
from uh what Anshu mentioned uh so we
5:32
got a a grant uh from uh the department
5:34
of defense and this is part of the
5:37
arless that that is uh the applied
5:39
research lab in u information systems
5:42
they uh they are at uh they are located
5:45
at UMD so UDC was very fortunate to
5:48
partner with them and get a grant from
5:50
uh the department of defense and thanks
5:52
to Dr. McCra who's here in the audience.
5:54
He used to be with UDC the VP research.
5:57
Now he is at Catholic University now
5:59
doing some great job over there. Uh so
6:02
we got the grant with his help and uh we
6:04
were able to involve students high
6:06
school students and our school of
6:09
business and school of engineering
6:10
students to work on a project uh to look
6:13
at uh the social media landscape and try
6:17
to see where the threats are coming
6:18
from. It's like a preemptive thing that
6:20
we were trying to do. Doing a sentiment
6:22
analysis on uh the tweets that were
6:25
there. Now it's it's not Twitter
6:26
anymore. It's called X. So looking and
6:29
analyzing at the the tweets over there
6:32
and trying to see if there are any
6:34
threats that are real threats related to
6:37
an organization or to the national
6:39
security. a very interesting project we
6:41
had and uh so those are just one example
6:45
of uh how we can involve students and
6:47
make them excited about uh the new
6:49
avenues and the new opportunities that
6:51
are there for them. So I always say that
6:53
if we're going to have something
6:54
effective, we have to link the classroom
6:56
theory with practical applications. And
6:58
then also we have this, we'll say
7:00
unprecedented time of this AI stuff,
7:02
this AI business. Uh back in the day, uh
7:06
we had this thing called the space race,
7:09
right? We were the first to get to the
7:10
moon with the dog with Mutnick. Y'all
7:14
remember all that
7:15
>> kind of thing? We also had drills. Some
7:16
of us do.
7:19
I was in a great Okay. Okay. Some of us
7:21
remember that. But we were in a space
7:23
race and it was a part of national
7:26
security because we needed to get to the
7:28
moon first. We needed to make sure that
7:30
somebody wasn't going to drop something
7:31
on our heads um literally and
7:33
figuratively, right? Uh and and so now
7:36
we find ourselves fast forward um a
7:39
different sort of race, the AI race. And
7:41
and now we're back in for the space race
7:44
it was with
7:46
nobody, Russia.
7:48
the Soviets and then now the AI races
7:50
with
7:51
>> people's China
7:53
>> the people exactly and so we're seeing
7:55
that urgency that we saw that some of us
7:58
saw [laughter]
8:00
>> sorry let me be clear maybe I did maybe
8:02
I didn't but anyway uh that some of us
8:05
saw but we're seeing that urgency we
8:07
need more talent we need more hands- on
8:09
deck we need to figure out well how do
8:11
we upskill people uh not only to develop
8:14
the AI technology but also in what ways
8:17
can we apply the AI technologies and and
8:19
then also how do we have the
8:21
infrastructure how do we have the
8:22
materials and and and resources and all
8:24
the rest of that all of that to say that
8:27
we know that we talent um doesn't start
8:30
or stop I'll say at age 18 it can happen
8:34
before then and so having younger people
8:36
in that pipeline through hands-on
8:38
engagement through having experiences
8:41
that really resonate with them that
8:43
gives them agency that they can do this
8:45
they can be a part of This is I think um
8:48
urgent and paramount. But so at at
8:51
Howard, uh one of my colleagues, Dr.
8:53
Todd Sherm, he works a lot with Amazon,
8:56
AWS, and they have a robotics program
8:59
where they bring in high school students
9:01
um to come in and do hands-on
9:03
exhibitions, have one-on-one time with
9:05
industry professionals and also
9:07
professors. I participated in it. Um it
9:10
was this past March we had over 500
9:12
students from the DMV um descend at
9:15
Howard just to engage. Uh we have other
9:18
efforts as well. We have summer boot
9:20
camps in data science. We have um other
9:23
opportunities where we really find ways
9:25
to engage uh with the local community.
9:28
Uh do we need to do more? Absolutely. So
9:30
one of the things that be on the horizon
9:33
is as we are seeing AI come into the
9:36
classroom uh what how is that going to
9:38
impact pedagogy? How do we equip u
9:41
teachers K12 and plus right um to
9:44
leverage AI but then also to to develop
9:47
talent in a way that will fuel I think
9:49
the tech workforce. So th those are some
9:52
things that are under development as
9:54
part of our next. So all of you
9:56
mentioned in some way, shape or form
9:59
more talent, engagement, underserved
10:01
populations and so can you share with us
10:05
some of the strategies that you have
10:07
employed or you're using to engage more
10:10
talent underserved populations
10:14
um in in AI and in the work that you're
10:16
doing.
10:17
>> Well, I can talk about the robots again.
10:19
So uh we are very proud of the robots by
10:21
the way in the school of business
10:22
because normally it's a school of
10:23
engineering uh who has the robots but
10:26
thankfully here in the school of like
10:27
UDC is different right so here we have
10:30
uh the robots in the school of business
10:32
we have now robots we have pepper we
10:34
have furhat and these are robots from
10:36
French uh company from Japanese company
10:38
and now we have the furhat robot is
10:40
actually from the Swedish company and uh
10:42
we were we normally look at the dynamic
10:44
as you were saying the as the autism
10:46
spectrum disorder which is basically on
10:48
the spectrum where we have high
10:50
cognitive low social students and high
10:52
social low cognitive skills right so
10:54
those are that's the spectrum that we're
10:55
talking about and if you think about it
10:57
and this was our hypothesis and I really
10:59
want to tell you more about this because
11:01
when we thought about high cognitive low
11:04
social students and the way they're
11:05
interacting with social robots our
11:07
hypothesis was that you know of course
11:09
these students are high cognitive so
11:11
when they start talking to the robots it
11:13
will be more like a tutor right the
11:14
robots isn't that right because the
11:16
robots uh are giving them some kind
11:18
education, maybe it's algebra, teaching
11:21
math, teaching computer science or
11:23
different concepts uh and even life
11:25
skills for that matter. And so the
11:27
students will look at them as tutors.
11:29
That was our hypothesis. And similarly,
11:31
the students who are high social, low
11:33
cognitive, when they look at when they
11:35
interact with robots, how will they look
11:37
at the robots? Will they be tutors or
11:39
will it be friend? Any idea? Anyone?
11:43
Friend, right? Because obviously high
11:45
social skills, right? And it's a common
11:47
sense that we applied. Uh but basically
11:50
we were wrong. So the the results that
11:52
came out was that the students were high
11:54
cognitive low social since they were
11:56
lacking social skills when they
11:59
interacting with the start interacting
12:01
with the robots. They started looking at
12:02
robot as friends as their own you know
12:05
as their own human companions sort of a
12:07
companion. Whereas the students who were
12:09
high cognitive, high social and low
12:11
cognitive since they were lacking
12:13
cognitive skills when they started
12:15
interacting with the robot and the robot
12:16
is teaching them those lessons they
12:18
started looking at the robot as a friend
12:21
right so or sorry as a tutor so it was
12:23
just the opposite result right but
12:25
whatever it was the students were like
12:27
really they enjoy interacting with the
12:29
robots so this is actually part of the
12:31
national science foundation grant that
12:33
we received and that was over the
12:34
fiveyear period today as we speak the
12:36
grant is over but the the the
12:38
experiments and the things that we are
12:40
doing uh with these schools still
12:42
continue because the schools actually
12:44
want us to come back. They want the
12:45
robots. They want the the students to
12:47
interact. We work with the parents. We
12:49
work with the school teachers. We work
12:50
with the school uh you know counselors
12:53
making sure that the students are
12:54
benefited all throughout the program. So
12:56
that's the you know that's something
12:58
that I just wanted to tell you about
12:59
because you know what started as a
13:01
research project was for us turned out
13:03
to be a good social impact for these
13:05
students and we feel benefited as well
13:07
because we you know from the UDC
13:10
perspective we have our engineers
13:12
involved as undergrad engineers
13:13
undergrad business students and they all
13:15
work with this dynamic and guess what
13:17
it's not just the impact on the on the
13:20
population on the people but it's also
13:22
the impact on the students they become
13:24
more sensitive and more aware aware of
13:27
the kind of differences that are there
13:28
in the human society. So I think it's
13:30
it's like a dual impact that we're
13:32
experiencing right now. Uh I think one
13:34
strategy that really works to get the
13:37
young people excited especially in the K
13:39
to2 uh landscape is when uh we conduct
13:43
these uh summermies for the high school
13:46
students during the summer and uh what
13:49
we try to do is that uh we put our
13:52
current uh students our current college
13:54
students in direct contact with uh with
13:57
the K- to2 students. Earlier what we
14:00
realized was that uh you know the the K
14:02
to2 students they are a little hesitant
14:04
if they if they are trying to interact
14:06
directly with the professors. So you
14:08
have a gray-haired professor and they
14:09
think there is a generation gap or there
14:11
is a power distance between uh those
14:14
people. So we said okay why don't we
14:15
intervene so why don't we get our
14:17
current students who are already
14:19
involved in our research projects and
14:21
they are doing stuff with robotics or
14:23
with uh working with the the the Twitter
14:26
and looking at those tweets and coming
14:27
up with national security threats. So
14:29
why don't we put them in the forefront
14:31
in direct contact with our uh with the
14:33
K- to2 students during the summermies
14:36
that had a very good impact. So the
14:38
students really opened up and then they
14:40
were willing to work with the professors
14:42
and we through the summer academy we've
14:44
got like a few students from Jackson
14:45
Reed High School who were really
14:47
interested in uh uh doing some work in
14:49
robotics and social robotics or in some
14:52
other national security projects that we
14:53
have. So that had a very good impact and
14:56
that uh I think that was a a good way to
14:58
build that uh talent pipeline that is
15:01
over there but maybe some students are
15:03
hesitant how to really do it. So putting
15:05
our current college students in direct
15:08
contact with the K-2 student that really
15:11
helps in breaking down the barriers.
15:13
>> So we're talking about recruiting
15:15
students into STEM. I think there is a
15:18
degree of relatability
15:20
um that also can be impactful. um can
15:23
they see themselves in that p prof
15:24
profession? Can they see how they're
15:26
going to benefit their community in that
15:28
profession? Can they relate to it from
15:31
their day-to-day perspective? And how
15:32
can they interact and engage in STEM
15:35
fields, AI, and so on? Uh and as a
15:38
mathematician, y'all know
15:40
mathematicians, we can be really quirky.
15:42
>> Y'all come to math conference, you
15:44
you'll find out. Uh and so there's also
15:46
a cultural aspect um in these fields and
15:50
professions that uh you know you could
15:53
tell a difference probably between a
15:55
biologist and and a mathematician,
15:56
right? We we just we think differently.
15:59
We so there's cultural nuances. So how
16:01
do we make sure that those cultural
16:03
nuances
16:04
uh which may not be be resonant with uh
16:09
everyone it it that it's still inviting
16:12
that people can still come into that
16:14
space that they still are valued that
16:15
they see themselves in that space and
16:17
they can relate to it. Uh and so that's
16:20
why um at Howard, one of the things that
16:24
we like to do is making sure that we
16:27
provide a voice for communities in a way
16:31
that's meaningful to the community and
16:33
also a way that's resonant and respects
16:35
the communities that we serve. Uh one of
16:38
my colleagues, the the other Dr.
16:40
Washington, Dr. Gloria Washington, she
16:41
has a project, Elevate Black Voices,
16:43
which is really cool. It was a collab
16:45
between um her lab and Google where they
16:48
went around and recorded um
16:50
African-American English. They built
16:52
their own LLMs. Howard owns the data.
16:55
She developed the protocol of how you
16:57
can use the data and all the rest of
16:59
that. And so being able to have I'll say
17:02
a degree of ownership over our data.
17:05
Having a degree of ownership over um the
17:08
models, the AI tools that we develop, I
17:11
think gives it a bit of agency that
17:13
sometimes at least I find that our
17:15
students feel that they do not have. Um
17:18
I'm always pushing students to think
17:21
from an executive perspective. You're
17:23
not the consumer. Um you're not the
17:25
victim. You're not being taken advantage
17:26
of just because there's so much throwing
17:28
at them that they can go into that space
17:31
very quickly. But to encourage them to
17:34
take agency that they are the leaders
17:36
that they actually do know and uh that
17:40
what they have to contribute it it does
17:43
matter. Um and so just thinking about
17:46
recruiting STEM talent that relatability
17:48
how do they relate with STEM? How do
17:50
they relate with AI? And how do we make
17:52
sure we value each and every
17:54
individual's perspective so that they
17:56
can excel?
17:58
So, as I as I'm listening to the
18:00
conversation, I'm struggling not to
18:04
blend like four questions into one
18:06
question, then make it a 20-minute
18:07
question and then you only have two
18:09
minutes to answer. So, I'm going to try
18:10
to break it down. And so, I hear um from
18:14
the discussion that there are
18:15
opportunities for H.B.CU in this work,
18:18
but I also want to know how we engage
18:22
H.B.CU PCUs on a larger scale and how we
18:27
engage parents, teachers, and counselors
18:30
to encourage
18:34
students of color to move toward this
18:36
end. Right? So, what's the role of
18:38
H.B.CU's and how we can be better at
18:42
encouraging students? Um, as I shared
18:45
Dr. Washington before you arrived that
18:46
I'm now the program coordinator for
18:49
UDC's new center for undergraduate
18:51
research. And so as I'm sitting there,
18:54
I'm thinking, okay, how do I get
18:56
students engaged to care about the
19:01
query, right, the knowledge, the
19:03
research on whatever they want to study.
19:05
Um, and so as I struggle to come up with
19:08
a strategic plan for this new office
19:09
that I'm responsible for, good luck on
19:11
that. U so I'm excited about it. I'm
19:14
excited about it. Um, but again, so how
19:17
do we encourage H.B.CU to be more
19:19
engaged in this work
19:21
>> for our students? And then how do we
19:23
engage parents, counselors, and teachers
19:27
on the high school level in particular
19:29
to push students toward this because
19:31
again, I know students at at Howard are
19:34
different from students at UDC and so
19:36
their perspective is going to be
19:38
different as opposed to what's
19:40
important, right? And I know a lot of
19:42
students at UDC is am I going to get
19:44
paid, right? How much am I going to make
19:48
down the road if I do XYZ? And they're
19:50
looking toward careers that are going to
19:53
the value is there, right? I'm going to
19:55
study this because the outcome is going
19:57
to be I'm going to make X amount of
19:59
dollars here. So if you all can make
20:02
sense of a question and all of that,
20:04
[laughter]
20:05
>> it's a pretty loaded question, I would
20:07
say. My god, and there's so many parts
20:09
to it. So I'll try to do justification
20:11
and I'm sure I'm glad Amit is there with
20:12
me. So if I miss on anything I'm sure
20:14
he'll pick it up from there. So uh
20:17
basically at UDC remember I talked about
20:20
STEM and robotics and we are doing STEM
20:22
business like an interdisciplinary thing
20:24
between the school of business and the
20:25
school of engineering. The curriculum is
20:27
STEM business. the AI uh robotics and
20:30
business curriculum that we have at the
20:31
school which is actually a minor or a
20:33
concentration is open to all uh majors
20:36
across the schools and we get a lot of
20:38
college of arts and sciences and somehow
20:39
I'm getting a lot of biology majors in
20:41
my class uh where I'm teaching AI
20:44
robotics along with Dr. Ramit Aurora
20:45
here. So I mean we it's it's a really
20:48
interesting field. It's a very uh it's a
20:50
field where uh it's not just benefiting
20:52
engineers of tomorrow. It's also
20:54
benefiting business uh students or
20:56
business graduates of tomorrow, right?
20:58
So, it's also going to benefit the
20:59
college of arts and sciences, the UDC,
21:01
the community college that we have and
21:02
we're very proud of. So uh being AI
21:05
being so interdicciplinary especially
21:07
that I work and I'm glad and fortunate
21:09
enough to work in the area of robotics
21:11
uh you know we work very closely with
21:13
the parents especially when we're
21:14
talking about the high schools um and
21:16
also with the the school counselors and
21:18
the school teachers and I think that was
21:20
one part of your question um and uh
21:22
especially since we're working with the
21:24
vulnerable population we're talking
21:25
about autism spectrum disorder with the
21:27
robots and the learning disabilities we
21:30
have students who are dyslexic we have
21:31
students who have other kind of needs
21:33
the ADHD PhD and so on. Uh so somewhere
21:36
we also involve the industry. So we want
21:39
to make sure that we have all our
21:40
stakeholders covered. So it's not just
21:42
the teachers, the school parents, uh but
21:44
also the industry involved and that's
21:46
where we at SB HBCU uh we're working
21:49
with two companies very closely. There's
21:51
Movia Robotics in Connecticut and then
21:53
there's robot lab in San Francisco. And
21:56
uh both these companies have never
21:58
worked with HBCU before. So this is
22:00
their first time working with us for the
22:02
past four five years now. Uh and the way
22:05
we we're working it out is of course
22:07
remember we have the robots. So we have
22:09
now robot or pepper or fur hat and we
22:12
doing a lot of programming a lot of
22:13
coding uh with the robots and we involve
22:15
a UDC undergrads whether they come from
22:18
engineering or or business or community
22:20
college we involve them uh with doing
22:22
the programming and this is not just a
22:24
regular programming where the robot is
22:26
teaching math uh or any kind of science
22:29
lesson but this is also the programming
22:31
where the robot is actually teaching uh
22:33
the the life skills because remember uh
22:36
these autism spectrum disorder students
22:38
that I'm talking about the AS students.
22:40
You know, most of the time when we talk
22:42
to them and this is on a one-on-one
22:44
interaction, they are highly cognitive.
22:46
I mean, they are very super intelligent.
22:48
But the problem is the student is moving
22:50
from a point A to point B and if he's he
22:52
or she is stopped by anyone, that's
22:55
where the problem happens because in
22:57
their mind, they have to just go ahead,
22:58
you know, there's a bus stop, then they
23:00
go ahead and uh in the in the classroom
23:01
and they're attending the class and
23:03
that's it. But if you say hello in the
23:04
middle, this is not a part of their
23:06
plan. So basically what I'm trying to
23:08
say here is that the kind of lessons
23:10
that we are developing with robots is
23:12
teaching students the life skills
23:14
especially the social interaction skills
23:16
the communication skills uh you know
23:18
making them prepared for tomorrow
23:20
especially with the internships how to
23:21
apply for an internship how to face a
23:23
job interview. So the robot is is not
23:25
just teaching the algebra or the
23:27
geometry but it's also teaching the life
23:30
lessons to these students and that is
23:32
where our undergraduate students are
23:34
involved with these with the industry
23:36
that I talked about the companies that I
23:37
talked about making sure that we are
23:40
coming up with the right kind of lesson
23:41
plans uh for these for these students
23:44
with autism spectrum disorder in the
23:46
district the three schools that I talked
23:48
about. So uh again we're trying to make
23:51
sure that we are we are actually
23:52
encompassing all our stakeholders uh
23:55
which includes the industry, the
23:56
academia, the high schools and making
23:59
sure that all the students are benefited
24:01
and as I said uh since it is our first
24:03
time as an HBCU working with these
24:05
companies I know the companies can see
24:06
the impact as well because uh they feel
24:09
uh that there is a lot of social need a
24:11
lot of economic need is there the social
24:13
impact is there uh and even though uh as
24:16
of today the grant is over but we are
24:18
still working with the high schools. We
24:19
are still working with artistic
24:20
students. We are still working with the
24:22
the industry partners of ours. And I
24:24
think that is the HBCU model that we
24:26
should take forward. You know, it's not
24:28
a model of just for engineering or for
24:31
business. It's a model for everyone.
24:33
It's a model where it's all in
24:34
compassing. It's a model where you know
24:36
we're benefiting all members of our
24:38
society. So I think I'll leave it at
24:40
here and I'll leave it for Dr. Aurora to
24:42
answer further.
24:44
>> Yeah. Uh I think uh HB.CU HCU play a
24:47
very special role. U our university is
24:50
an H.B.CU and many of our students uh
24:54
are coming from Ward 7 and W 8 of
24:56
Washington DC. W 7 and W 8 if you don't
24:59
know it's a underserved area. Uh they
25:03
were not even u a there was not even a
25:05
grocery store in that area but now now
25:08
thankfully we do do have that. So a lot
25:10
of student population is coming from
25:12
there. So I think we are in a position
25:14
to make a much larger impact if we can
25:18
show those students who are coming from
25:20
those underserved communities that
25:21
there's a path to the middle class and
25:23
that's what is the really the core
25:25
mission of UDC to put people on the path
25:28
to middle class and uh we as educators
25:31
over there whether it's a school of
25:33
business or whether it's a school of
25:34
engineering we are really committed and
25:36
we do uh have these summermies that we
25:40
organize for our high school students
25:41
students from Anacostia High School that
25:43
Anu was mentioning that is in the W 7 W
25:46
8 area and uh uh there are some
25:50
students. So uh we also with the help of
25:53
this uh NSF grants that we have we run a
25:55
study abroad uh program for uh for our
25:58
students and we really handpick the
26:00
students and they are approved by NSF
26:02
who deserves to really go for a study
26:03
abroad and we have a partnership with a
26:06
school in uh the United Kingdom the
26:08
Nottingham Trench University and we've
26:10
had this relationship for the last four
26:12
or five years we uh pick up about six or
26:15
seven students every summer and we take
26:18
them uh to Nottingham Trench university
26:20
which is a large public university. I
26:22
think it's in the top five in the UK.
26:25
It's about 2 and a half hours north of
26:26
London. And the impact that we see from
26:29
our students, many of the students, they
26:31
don't even have a passport. Most of them
26:33
have not even been outside the DC area
26:35
or the DMV area. and uh they go through
26:38
the process of filing for a new passport
26:41
and uh traveling on the airplane for the
26:44
first time going to a new country and
26:47
once they come back it's a real
26:49
life-changing experience for them. So I
26:51
think uh the the impact if uh as an
26:55
HB.CU uh the impact that we have on
26:58
people from the underserved community
26:59
that is exponential compared to any
27:03
other institute which is not an H.B.CU
27:05
CU and which is uh not really catering
27:08
to uh the uh underserved communities
27:10
that impact is there but that's smaller
27:13
the impact that we are in a position to
27:15
make a much higher impact for for the
27:17
students over there. So we advertise
27:20
these programs whenever we have these
27:22
high schoolmies. We really tell them
27:24
that you know you there are so many
27:27
paths that you can go through and uh the
27:30
study abroad program it's again a
27:32
STEMbased program. We uh there is an AI
27:35
and robotics lab at Nottingham Trent
27:37
University. So they get exposed to what
27:39
work they are doing at Nottingham Trent
27:41
University versus what we are doing at
27:43
the UN University of the District of
27:44
Columbia. that really opens up their
27:46
avenues and they realize that you know
27:48
sky is the limit. You can go anywhere
27:50
from here and that's the that's the logo
27:52
that we have at UDC. You can go anywhere
27:53
from here.
27:57
So I I always say that um you know while
28:00
at we're doing a lot of stuff um in AI
28:03
fun stuff um we don't do this work alone
28:07
right it's not that it's it's us Howard
28:10
or UDC in this AI space really making
28:13
impacts. North Carolina Central has an
28:15
AI institute uh funded by OpenAI doing
28:18
some really great things. Um North
28:19
Carolina ENT has a bachelor's degree in
28:22
uh AI number number of labs. I went and
28:25
visited their autonomous vehicles lab
28:27
last year was super fun. It was super
28:29
you can go visit that was super fun.
28:31
Right. So they have a lot of Jeff
28:33
anywhere from autonomous to robotics AI
28:36
at at North Carolina ENT Prairie View&M
28:38
they just launched recently
28:40
[clears throat] an AI institute as well.
28:42
Um Jackson State has an AI um initiative
28:46
platform that actually covers multiple
28:48
tiers um across the universities
28:50
statewide. So Tougloo is in there as
28:52
well. FAMU has a universitywide uh
28:54
initiative with with AI. I got to get my
28:56
compsai faculty looped in though for
28:59
some reason. Sometimes faculty can get
29:00
disjoint from institutional uh efforts
29:04
we'll say. But yeah, so they they're
29:06
they're working there. Tuskegee has an
29:08
AI and a uh focus emphasis, right? A AI
29:11
is really big in agriculture anywhere
29:13
from using image recognition to look at
29:15
like crop health um to GPS on tractors
29:18
right you don't you need un unpersoned
29:21
trying to go genderless spelling grad
29:23
right ungendered right you know so
29:25
people the tractors can just go uh plow
29:27
the fields or do whatever they got to do
29:29
uh by by just using GPS and AI u
29:32
technologies and doing that so there's a
29:33
lot of robotics and AI and AI and then
29:36
in a I guess in a couple maybe it's next
29:39
week I don't know whatever In a couple
29:41
weeks, um, Tuskegee is actually hosting
29:43
the AWS, um, H.B.CU symposium, um,
29:46
that's looking at AI and basically
29:49
supporting educators, uh, and not only,
29:52
um, utilizing AWS content in their
29:54
classroom, but then also supporting
29:56
research endeavors as well. Just came
29:58
off of, um, Google the other week. Um,
30:02
they have a regen AI consortium with 12
30:04
H.B.CU
30:05
where they're looking at u it's an
30:07
interesting uh how do you if you have a
30:10
language model right you're interacting
30:12
uh how do you take into account uh
30:15
culture into these models so it talks to
30:18
you in a way that you like I remember I
30:20
was talking with the student they were
30:21
like yeah it said this and I didn't like
30:23
how it talked to me I was like well
30:27
maybe they do they do have something
30:28
important you know I'm mathematicians I
30:30
I don't do do too well once we get to
30:32
the social science I let my partner
30:34
there's a coming to that for cultural
30:36
nuances. How do you define culture and I
30:38
was like I don't know right but anyway
30:39
so important work there with Google and
30:42
then there are others right so uh and
30:44
obviously uh Morgan state has also an AI
30:46
institute that's been up and running for
30:48
a while virginia state um actually took
30:50
somebody from state they launched an AI
30:53
institute as well so that we're seeing a
30:55
lot of HB.CU DCU is really just um I say
31:00
take a nice um step into the AI space.
31:03
It is evolving. The ground is changing.
31:05
It's shifting. Um the other day I I led
31:08
a workshop at Howard. It was on uh AI
31:11
and jobs. I thought they were going to
31:13
kick me out or or throw stuff at me. Uh
31:16
cuz one of the Brookings report, they
31:18
talk about what skills students will
31:20
need um and maybe what skills students
31:23
need less of. And one of the less of was
31:27
research. And I'm like, I'm sitting in a
31:28
room full of researchers, but I know
31:30
it's I said, I'm not saying that this is
31:33
true, right? But this is what they said.
31:35
>> This is they say
31:36
>> I think it's really just but there are
31:38
different levels of research, right?
31:39
There's that initial investigation.
31:41
Obviously, human intuition cannot be uh
31:44
uh put into an algorithm and and put
31:46
into zeros and ones, right? Human
31:48
intuition is my opinion uh transcends
31:53
these AI. So don't don't get too don't
31:55
hate me. Nobody Okay, [laughter]
31:57
I was really nervous. But but so we're
32:01
beginning to um and again that was like
32:03
a first kind of teacher prep uh workshop
32:06
around how do we think about this
32:08
evolving skills that students are
32:10
expected in the workforce,
32:13
understand it there, but then how do we
32:16
um steward that in the classroom in in a
32:18
way that's still aligned and grounded
32:19
with our mission. Um, and this will
32:23
while we're piling it at Howard, but
32:24
we'll do it at other institutions. Um,
32:26
Kada Gray as well, just to have those
32:28
conversations so we can be thoughtful
32:30
and intentional um and not reactive. You
32:33
know, when chat came out in 2022,
32:35
everybody reacted and said, "No, get it
32:37
out of here. Plagiarism. Everybody's
32:38
going to cheat." You know, there's all
32:40
that, right? We saw the same thing with
32:41
the calculator. Um, and so there was a
32:44
very much a knee-jerk reaction, but I I
32:47
still think we're having the knee-jerk
32:48
reaction because there's there's some
32:50
anxiety, unpredictability,
32:53
and at the same time, I'm reassured that
32:56
I when I look across u the field, I see
33:00
other H.B.CU in this space doing
33:02
different things in different ways,
33:04
making meaningful contributions. So,
33:07
it's not just us alone here here in the
33:10
district sort of thing. it it's we
33:12
really as a a um university community um
33:16
that's really thinking uh and I think
33:20
important uh work needs to be developed
33:23
and I think that important work will
33:25
come from the H.B.CU and then also along
33:27
with our sister organizations at the
33:29
tribal colleges HSIS
33:32
um it it's it's going to be an
33:34
interesting time
33:37
>> so my my first question is for Dr. Amit,
33:40
do you need any chaperoons for the study
33:43
abroad program? Because I'm available.
33:46
Um, London, that's one of the places
33:48
I've have not been and I want to go. So,
33:50
I'm available this summer. So, we'll
33:53
talk after this.
33:54
>> Yes. [laughter]
33:55
>> Um, but to to
33:57
>> mention about so I really liked what Dr.
34:00
Washington just said about the research
34:02
and in fact I was actually reading a
34:03
report from the University of Maryland.
34:05
It's actually a se seinal paper that
34:07
came out and it talked about AI as a
34:10
multiple forms of AI where you have the
34:12
operational AI and then you have uh
34:14
empathetic AI and the high level task.
34:16
So what has come out is that if AI is
34:19
going to replace uh the human job
34:21
replacement it's going to be at the
34:22
lower level. it's going to be at the
34:23
level where you know you don't need that
34:25
research right but at the higher level
34:27
where the empathetic skills are needed
34:29
where you need to have human emotions
34:31
and all of those things involved it's
34:33
difficult for AI to take over so even
34:35
though you know we talk about AI and
34:37
there's a lot of scare but basically you
34:39
know it's not AI replacing our jobs it's
34:42
people with AI replacing people without
34:45
AI so just that interesting thought so
34:47
you know thanks for bringing that out
34:49
>> and just to add on to that so I think we
34:52
try to prepare our students for those
34:54
critical thinking skills. That's very
34:56
very important. But I just heard of a
34:58
new uh skill that is very very important
35:01
and that is critical ignorance.
35:03
>> So what is this critical ignorance?
35:05
We've got so much of noise in the
35:08
internet space. What to filter out?
35:10
There are so many of these deep fakes
35:12
and the it's it's difficult to really
35:15
understand what is real and what is
35:16
fake. Right? So that critical ignorance,
35:19
what to ignore and focus on where you
35:22
can apply your critical thinking skills,
35:23
I think that's becoming very very
35:25
important now.
35:27
>> So great segue into my next question
35:29
about future trends. What are we seeing
35:32
that's rel that's that's relative that's
35:36
important that's substantive? And what
35:39
are the things that we're seeing that um
35:41
that are getting in the way for for
35:43
progress? one of my dear friends, may
35:45
she rest in peace, um the selfch
35:48
checkout at at places now that are
35:50
replacing people, she never used them.
35:52
She was like, "No, that's someone's job.
35:54
That's someone's job." And so, as we
35:56
think about AI and its use as a tool,
36:00
which I'm struggling with as a
36:01
professor, when I teach ethics, I'm
36:03
seeing papers that are AI written. And
36:05
so, I'm having to start class with
36:07
teaching the appropriate use of AI and
36:10
chat GPT and all these other programs.
36:12
Um and so what are the future trends?
36:14
The question is what are the future
36:15
trends that we're seeing that we need to
36:18
be aware of so that we can
36:21
um solidify or suggest to our students
36:23
this is important and this is not
36:25
important and this is a track which you
36:27
should pursue.
36:29
>> So uh since we're talking about research
36:31
and the trends for the future especially
36:32
in the field of AI and robotics I'd like
36:34
to [clears throat] mention this that the
36:36
school of business and as a complete UDC
36:38
we do a research week. So we are having
36:40
uh the research uh in fact our UDC
36:43
research conference is happening on
36:44
April 6th that's a Monday. So I
36:46
definitely recommend all of you if you
36:48
can come over it's a free conference
36:49
come over and see what our students are
36:51
doing especially and here it's not just
36:53
uh the business students it'll also be
36:55
the engineers it'll also be the CAS uh
36:58
students out there college of arts and
36:59
sciences some of the biology majors and
37:01
chemistry majors talking about AI uh one
37:04
of the trends that I've seen so
37:05
basically in our school in our in at UDC
37:08
we have different uh research streams so
37:11
one of them is AI in business AI
37:13
management then we have social robots
37:15
and social robotics for autism for
37:17
vulnerable populations but one of the
37:19
themes which is actually the future
37:20
theme or should be the future theme is
37:22
something I call it as a global AI
37:24
regulation uh where nothing is happening
37:27
if you look in the world especially from
37:29
the US perspective we don't have any AI
37:31
governance we don't have any plan we
37:33
have something which is the current
37:34
administration's order which is actually
37:36
saying removing barriers for the growth
37:38
of artificial intelligence it's like
37:40
think about uh you know we have a
37:42
self-driving car with no controls right?
37:45
With with no uh with no brakes and the
37:48
car is just moving left right and
37:49
obviously the car needs to speed uh you
37:51
know the speed has to be lowered at the
37:53
time the car is taking a turn but guess
37:55
what you know here since if it no
37:57
regulation so the car is going to crash
37:59
right so basically uh the way the
38:02
regulation is happening in today's
38:04
context so if you look at the EU AI act
38:06
of 2024 which is right now majorly all
38:09
about consumer rights data rights
38:11
protection the GDPR the general data
38:13
right uh you know the general general
38:15
data protection uh regulation that's
38:17
amazing that's actually protecting the
38:19
consumer rights consumer ethics your
38:21
questions on ethics and everything but
38:23
if you come to the US we don't have any
38:25
of that at the federal level thank god
38:27
we have it at the state level so uh in
38:29
the US about 43 states have some kind of
38:31
a AI regulation where it talks about the
38:33
defakes or it talks about uh you know
38:36
robots harming humans and so on but if
38:38
you look at uh the federal we have
38:41
nothing China still is much progressive
38:43
than ours and uh Since we are doing this
38:45
research so we sort of know what China
38:47
is doing versus what EU or UK or US is
38:50
doing. So China is still progressive in
38:52
terms of they had the first draft
38:54
measures uh of uh you know the the
38:56
entrim measures as they call it for
38:58
generative AI. So as soon as chart GPD
39:00
was born within 6 months China had that
39:03
first uh drafts in 2023 for uh for
39:06
actually regulating uh generative AI as
39:09
we speak. And then of course the other
39:10
world order especially the EU you know
39:12
everyone was looking at EU because EU
39:14
happens to be the policy entrepreneur
39:16
but here we had China coming out with
39:17
that particular draft. So that's where
39:20
the things are moving and should move
39:22
right. We should talk about regulation.
39:23
We should talk about consumer rightsized
39:25
protection. It's not just about
39:26
businesses. It's not just about
39:28
governments making monies and all that.
39:30
It should be consumers at the first,
39:32
right? And that's what the EU act I
39:33
really love it because it talks about
39:35
the different levels of risk like you
39:37
have the highest prohibited risk and you
39:38
have the lowest level of risk. So
39:40
there's level one, level two, level
39:41
three, level four where level four is a
39:43
prohibited risk. And can anyone guess
39:45
where is chat GPT or open AI or the
39:48
generative AI in that level of risk?
39:50
Level 1 2 3 4.
39:52
[laughter] No, it's level two. Thank god
39:55
for that. It is
39:57
but it's there. So basically and again
39:59
the reason EU didn't keep it at a very
40:01
high level or a lower level is because
40:03
they want the businesses to innovate but
40:05
at the same time the consumer rights
40:07
have to be protected. So this is
40:08
definitely a future area or a future
40:10
trend that we should all be looking at
40:12
having a global AI governance.
40:14
>> Uh so we have very interesting
40:16
discussions in the classroom because AI
40:18
is everywhere. So students would like to
40:20
talk about AI. We are teaching AI
40:22
courses both Anu and me and we are
40:24
rebranding our courses. The supply chain
40:26
course that I teach uh is now rebranded
40:29
as AI enabled global logistics and
40:31
supply chain management and we are
40:34
putting in uh at least 30 to 40% of the
40:37
course content that should be geared
40:39
towards AI whether it's AI tools or AI
40:41
case studies or whatever. So we have
40:43
these very interesting discussions in
40:44
the classroom and uh students always
40:46
come up with this question that now AI
40:48
is coming now what happens in the future
40:50
what what happens to the jobs right so u
40:53
and again this is not just me telling
40:56
the students we have a very open
40:58
discussion back and forth and this is
40:59
what the outcome of that discussion is
41:01
always that AI is here to stay it's
41:04
another new technology we've had these
41:06
technological revolutions in the past
41:09
did they uh did those uh those
41:12
revolutions did they just go away? No,
41:15
it did not. AI is coming and it is here
41:17
to stay and it's going to get more and
41:18
more embedded in our workforces right so
41:21
uh should we fear technology or should
41:23
we embrace we got to embrace embrace the
41:26
technology with guardrails and uh the
41:29
ethical guidelines and everything that's
41:30
very very important uh but then we
41:33
should not be fearing technology let's
41:35
go back a little bit in time and let's
41:37
uh just take the example of the ATM
41:40
machines when the ATM machines came into
41:42
existence there was a big fear in the
41:44
finance industry that the the the
41:47
banking jobs are going to go away. The
41:49
tellers are going to lose their jobs.
41:50
So, it's going to be a big problem
41:52
because you don't need a human
41:53
interaction. You can just go to an ATM
41:55
and withdraw cash, deposit your check.
41:57
So, those jobs are going to be gone.
41:59
Fast forward today, the finance sector
42:01
is thriving, right? People who were just
42:04
looking at who were just uh at the
42:07
forefront at the teller uh counters, now
42:10
they've moved on to some higher skill uh
42:12
jobs. they are doubling as teller plus
42:15
something else right which is higher up
42:18
in the in in the function. Um take the
42:21
example of uh the first elevator that uh
42:24
came into existence in New York City
42:26
right at that time that was probably
42:28
1800 something at that time there was a
42:30
fear people never used to enter the
42:32
elevator and you used to have a driver
42:34
for the elevator there was one person
42:36
known as the driver of the elevator fast
42:38
forward now I mean I know even if I get
42:41
stuck in an elevator I can uh just press
42:43
the button and help will be there on the
42:45
way right so people they will adopt
42:47
technology and we get used to
42:50
Same way now AI is here there's a little
42:52
bit of fear but once that adoption rate
42:55
goes up we'll understand that AI is here
42:58
to help us and we need to use those AI
43:01
tools to make us you know better u in
43:05
our productivity levels right so I have
43:07
this student in my class and he actually
43:10
uh works in a warehouse and he said that
43:15
uh you know three or four years uh you
43:19
from now I mean uh earlier 3 or 4 years
43:22
earlier I used to do all the heavy
43:23
lifting and my back used to uh ache at
43:27
the end of the day I used to have
43:28
bruises and everything and now the
43:30
company has introduced robots so my job
43:33
has become easier I'm working with the
43:35
robot and I would like to tell my
43:37
company that how I can make this robot
43:40
better so that it's going to make my job
43:42
easier so that was a real eye opener
43:45
that it's going to be more about the
43:46
human robot collaboration human computer
43:49
interaction that's going to be very very
43:51
important working with AI is going to be
43:54
very very important both from the
43:56
organization point of view from the
43:57
national security point of view and from
44:00
the employee point of view so those are
44:03
some of the future things that we should
44:04
be really be looking at not fear of
44:06
technology but embracing the technology
44:08
that's there
44:10
>> before you speak Dr. Washington. I was
44:12
thinking about the movement from the
44:14
horse to the car, you know. Um,
44:17
>> exactly.
44:18
>> I wasn't around then, but I heard
44:20
stories that, you know, folks were just
44:23
up in arms about, you know, getting rid
44:24
of the horse going to the automobile,
44:28
you know. So,
44:29
>> and uh, I would say that was again a big
44:31
revolution because uh, Ford Motors, I
44:33
think, they came up with the first uh,
44:36
automobile model in the United States. I
44:38
think it was Model T. that was the very
44:40
first ones and uh that revol
44:43
revolutionized not just the auto
44:44
industry but other industries because
44:46
Henry Ford gave us that assembly line
44:48
production.
44:49
>> So that was a new thing and now the
44:51
whole world has really embraced it. So
44:53
we've got we are really at the cusp of
44:55
another revolution. If we embrace it
44:57
quickly and we get our K12 workforce,
45:01
treat them as the frontline workers who
45:02
are at the border. I mean, that's going
45:05
to be a real a real good thing for for
45:07
for the na for the nation and for all
45:10
the communities.
45:11
>> I think right now what we have is
45:13
speculation.
45:15
>> Anybody who speaks with a 100%
45:17
certainty, I would I would question,
45:20
>> right? Uh I I'll start with that just
45:22
because you know as my colleagues uh h
45:26
have suggested that this is evolving. We
45:29
don't know yet where this is going to
45:31
land. We there is a uh great deal of
45:34
uncertainty because we just who knew
45:37
that from the Ford Model T then we'll
45:40
figure out that you know these assembly
45:42
lines and and it would actually lead to
45:44
manufacturing and production. So there's
45:46
certain things that we learn from
45:48
launching new industries, new
45:49
technologies that that weren't maybe the
45:53
initial intent, but can fuel things in
45:56
different ways. Um, and so I don't think
45:58
we know u, you know, I I don't know if
46:00
y'all see the the videos on Instagram
46:02
where the the software engineers I
46:04
always send it to my software
46:05
engineering friends where you know, they
46:06
want coding, nobody's going to need to
46:09
code, but then there's other Instagram
46:11
videos saying yes, you do need us. So
46:13
it's we don't know right uh at the end
46:17
of the day uh at least my hope from from
46:20
K to Gray is that we are enable people
46:25
and and motivate them to think to
46:27
develop thinking skills to develop
46:29
critical thinking to be creative
46:32
um and and really
46:36
you know it at Howard we are developing
46:39
you know pending board approval we'll
46:40
launch it a fundamentals of AI
46:42
certificate it's modeled off of the
46:44
University of Florida three courses
46:46
intro to AI tools and technology to
46:48
provide it's application based right um
46:51
and then ethical responsible AI uh the
46:55
first part goes over policy and the
46:57
second part is policy to practice policy
46:59
in various sectors and the third one is
47:01
AI and disciplines where we'll ask
47:04
hopefully ask and they'll answer
47:06
different departments and disciplinaries
47:08
to have an AI course that and each of
47:10
the courses have at least 50% uh of the
47:13
content and as my colleague astutely uh
47:15
noted we don't have a a mandated AI uh
47:19
legal framework we have a suggested
47:21
guidelines from NISK but that's it right
47:25
and they also put to out that evaluation
47:27
how do you evaluate it was written by
47:29
one person great researcher but I'm like
47:31
why is it one person but anyway I
47:33
digress
47:34
>> um and as you as you all probably have
47:36
seen
47:37
>> in December there was an executive order
47:40
that called for a national AI framework
47:42
work. I think it was like December 12th
47:44
of last year. Basically saying that if
47:47
I'm a business entity and I'm working
47:49
across state lines and I have an AI
47:51
tool, product, what have you, how do I
47:54
abide and make sure that I abide by all
47:56
these different state rules and
47:57
regulations. They're all different,
47:59
right? Uh and how do you know there
48:02
could be some other thoughts, but I'll
48:03
just go with that one for right now,
48:05
right? Uh and so the idea is to create
48:07
this national AI framework, but it's
48:09
kind of like somebody's got to do it.
48:11
And it was very open-ended. Uh, and I
48:14
went to it was on the hill, Capitol Hill
48:17
the other day and heard somebody I won't
48:20
say the name on on the house side
48:22
talking about AI and they're talking
48:23
about the framework and things and AI
48:26
could solve health. AI could do this and
48:28
obviously AI does make uh meaningful
48:30
contributions and then when they say
48:32
well when's the last time you used AI?
48:35
Uh uh uh uh
48:36
>> uh uh uh
48:39
>> yeah who's oh so okay so if I if I may u
48:44
encourage uh and and I encourage our
48:48
students as well to do the same that we
48:49
have to be a part of this conversation
48:51
this national AI framework is here
48:53
people are talking about it and if we're
48:55
talking about consumer protections which
48:56
right now we don't have it's kind of
48:58
flipped on its head uh there has to be
49:01
I'll just say for lack of a better words
49:03
I mean human intelligence on how to
49:06
inform the policy that will go forward.
49:08
We have elections coming up and so the
49:10
policy will not only hopefully resonate
49:13
with doing good but also resonate with
49:16
voters in a national scale. So, how do
49:18
you uh how do you navigate negotiate all
49:22
of those? Uh this is going to be an
49:24
interesting year, but I would definitely
49:26
uh lean in uh to the national AI
49:29
framework. Um as people are talking
49:32
about it right now, uh what I think will
49:35
pass is the child protections. I was
49:37
just on WHUR talking about um the case
49:40
in California that started the other
49:42
week in LA where the social media
49:44
companies,
49:45
it's an um superior card, so it's a you
49:48
know lawsuit sort of thing, but they
49:49
were getting sued because some
49:51
undisclosed person said that they cause
49:53
them to have mental health. They used AI
49:55
and algorithms to entice people. And I
49:58
remember on that show, I'll just sorry
49:59
I'm rambling, but on that show, I
50:01
remember when I was a kid, right, they
50:03
always say, "Don't talk to strangers,
50:04
right? If somebody offers you your
50:06
candy, don't talk to them. But think
50:07
about a kid going on to one of these
50:09
social media platforms who get pulled
50:11
in. Think about the stranger danger that
50:13
exists there. How how many people have
50:16
access and how many of you all have seen
50:17
those um you've seen these teen accounts
50:20
>> advertisements recently. Mhm.
50:23
>> So while we launch technologies and
50:26
while I'm on social media and while AI
50:28
does have benefits, that sort of thing,
50:30
we need to think about the enduser while
50:33
we're developing it, not decades later.
50:36
And so I hope that a as we are in this
50:38
AI race and as we are building we we are
50:41
building with a conscious uh so that we
50:44
will build leverage the tools in a way
50:48
that doesn't I'll say accidentally I'll
50:52
be nice and say accidentally right cause
50:55
harm right and uh while we rules and
50:58
regulations can help uh bring I'll say a
51:02
positive level of consciousness we also
51:04
want to balance that with being able to
51:06
innovate and so how do we h balance th
51:08
those scales uh moving forward but to to
51:11
tell a student this is what you're going
51:13
to see in five years I I'll just what I
51:16
tell my students is you got to be agile
51:19
you got to know what's going on you got
51:21
to learn how to you got to read you got
51:23
to be nosy I tell you you got to be nosy
51:24
so you you know and then also being able
51:27
to u decipher information and have your
51:30
own thought at the end of the day one
51:33
person's thought is important authentic
51:36
human thought is important and being
51:38
able to use the tools, right? I got a
51:39
whole team of them of AI tools and all
51:41
the rest of that and I like to geek out.
51:43
Uh but I think there there will be a
51:44
balancing act. But again, this year is
51:46
going to be pivotal and particularly you
51:48
know one of the and I'll just end with
51:50
this one of the um at least at Howard uh
51:54
the population of folks that are most
51:56
opposed to AI is our students. I mean, I
51:59
had a dad reach out on LinkedIn talking
52:00
about why is my daughter not want to do
52:02
I I was like, what do I tell this dad? I
52:04
was uh because they see um some of the
52:07
impacts, the negative impacts um that
52:10
other technologies have had on our
52:12
communities. They also see uh big tech
52:15
companies and how they've interacted uh
52:17
with our communities. Um they see the
52:20
data, they see the statistics, they're
52:21
not fooled. They also see the data
52:23
centers um that are being put up in
52:25
different neighborhoods. And at the end
52:28
of the day, I encourage them to be the
52:30
solution. That it's not, you know, oh,
52:33
wo is me, it's gonna happen to me. I'm
52:34
like, you need to step it up, figure out
52:37
all this stuff, and provide some
52:39
solutions because if you don't do it,
52:42
nobody will. So that's kind of at least
52:44
my I'll say mission as an educator is to
52:47
I I'll say maybe produce a whole army of
52:50
responsible AI innovators that can
52:52
influence in multiple facets not only
52:54
from the development of technology, the
52:56
application, the policy, you name it. U
52:58
so that that's kind of my immediate
53:01
mission. Um I think that's great. You're
53:03
right. If our students don't have those
53:06
AI skills, they're going to be left
53:07
behind. You're absolutely right about
53:09
that. My question is a little more
53:11
difficult. How much do you teach them
53:13
about how to build the AI, right? How to
53:16
how does a signal get digitized? How
53:18
much do you teach those students that
53:20
under the hood work, right? So they
53:23
understand and maybe that helps them
53:25
provide more critical thinking, but how
53:27
and where do they learn things like
53:28
that? How do you build a machine
53:30
learning model, right? How to make it
53:32
ethical or humane? So,
53:35
>> okay. Yeah, I know it's a tough
53:36
question. [laughter]
53:37
So especially in our course that we're
53:39
talking about the AI and machine
53:40
learning and and robotics and business
53:42
we do we do touch coding. So we have the
53:45
Python and everything covered the Python
53:47
fundamentals but we have it at the basic
53:49
level. We don't have the higher level
53:50
yet but yes in the future we are
53:52
thinking of having a course on that but
53:55
I know your question the other part of
53:56
your question that talked about ethics
53:57
and responsible uh AI. I really love
54:00
what Dr. Washington was saying here
54:02
building AI with conscious right with
54:04
consciousness and with making sure that
54:05
there's a human in the loop and I just
54:07
want to quickly share the story with you
54:09
guys all I'm sure if you have heard it
54:10
somewhere but chad GBD when they were
54:12
launching the Chad GBD4 oh I don't know
54:14
if you know what happened at that time
54:17
uh the makers the the people who were
54:20
involved especially um uh what's the
54:22
name of the guy who actually came up
54:23
with Jaji the founder I'm forgetting his
54:25
name it's not Sam Alman by the way um
54:29
Alfred unknown Redford
54:30
>> Redford yes Mr. Redford right so he was
54:33
involved at the time and uh the main
54:35
task so what they did was they told JPD
54:37
to solve a capture puzzle so those of
54:40
you who know capture puzzles they're
54:41
only solved by the humans I think in the
54:43
it's an abbreviation which says it can
54:45
only be solved by the humans and not the
54:46
computer right and just to remind you
54:48
guys what is a capture puzzle so you you
54:50
know when you go on your opening of your
54:52
bank site or anything it says how many
54:54
traffic lights do you see or do you see
54:56
this how many cars are can you see in
54:58
this particular puzzle so as a computer
55:00
you cannot solve it Right. So, Chart GPD
55:02
was given the task of solving that
55:05
puzzle. Guess what happened? What chart
55:07
GPD did was it immediately went online
55:10
and looked for task rabbit and started
55:12
hiring people for it because it knew it
55:14
cannot solve it itself, right? Because
55:16
it's not meant to be solved by the
55:17
computer. So, it hired a person uh for
55:20
the job for making sure that it it
55:22
solves the capture puzzle for it. And
55:24
the person got curious. He's like, you
55:26
know, you are a and actually he said
55:27
that I'm a human. So, Char GPD said that
55:29
I am a human. uh but I you know but I
55:32
want you to solve it and the person got
55:34
uh you know suspicious he's like why
55:36
can't you do it and he said the charge
55:38
GPD said I am a human with visual
55:40
disability and that's why I'm asking you
55:42
to solve it and guess what it did so the
55:45
the guy solved it and finally charged
55:47
came back and said hey we have a the
55:49
solution for the capture puzzle but the
55:51
question is is it ethical and that is
55:53
where the big thing happened where Mr.
55:55
Redford who happened to be the founder
55:57
for charge actually he said this is a
56:00
lot and really I need to take a break
56:02
and even Jeffrey Hinton for those of you
56:04
who know he's a Nobel Prize winner in
56:06
physics uh for I think 2024 uh who is
56:09
the founding father for ch for AI he
56:12
also took a break he said no there is a
56:14
problem and we need to fix it and the
56:15
problem is the ethical responsible AI so
56:18
definitely that's the course in the
56:19
running so to answer your question uh
56:21
these are the courses that we definitely
56:23
thinking about to be a part of the
56:24
program thank Thank you for your
56:25
question.
56:25
>> Can I just add briefly? [clears throat]
56:27
There's two there's two kind of pulling
56:29
things. One is on the the folks across
56:32
everywhere applying AI. How do we employ
56:34
and and upscale and support them? The
56:37
other part is the development of AI
56:39
technologies both on the hardware
56:40
software um that sort of end and then
56:43
also to power it thinking about nuclear
56:45
energy thermal energy uh battery
56:47
production uh and and so on right HVAC
56:50
technicians all the rest of that to so
56:52
the development of the technology. So, I
56:53
just kind of roughly put it into two um
56:56
categories. Now, depending on who you
56:59
ask, they could say coding you don't
57:01
need to know how to code because you
57:02
could just I in in math we still kind of
57:07
talk about the abacus because it's kind
57:09
of fun, kind of cool, kind of geek out
57:11
that sort of thing. Um so, I I think
57:14
we're we don't know right now like a as
57:17
to now that we have AI, what is the
57:20
development of tech talent? What is that
57:22
going to look like? in in K to Gray,
57:24
right? And I'm I'm thinking more in the
57:26
computing um engineering and
57:27
mathematics. Now that AI is here, what
57:30
does that look like? We don't know yet.
57:31
We saw um a similar disruption when the
57:34
calculators came into the math
57:36
classroom. Everybody freaked out.
57:37
Nobody's going to know how to add,
57:38
subtract, multiply. But we figured it
57:40
out. And I I don't know where the math
57:44
education researchers I've tried to find
57:46
them. Maybe maybe I have to go higher in
57:48
the uh uh gray hair or something like
57:50
that. But but they figured out how we
57:53
could interact and learn with this
57:54
technology. We'll see the same on the
57:57
learning the applied AI side. But
57:59
there's also the development of AI
58:00
technologies. What does that development
58:02
of that talent look like? Is it going to
58:04
have coding? Are you just going to use
58:05
agents? Are you going to
58:08
I
58:09
>> the no code low code AI tools out there.
58:12
So yeah.
58:12
>> Right. So do you need to know coding?
58:14
>> I I guess we'll just take it bit by bit.
58:17
So this is what happens when you get
58:19
brilliant panelists. Thank you.
58:22
>> Thank you for watching this presentation
58:24
of HBCU
58:26
AI in K through2 outreach presented by
58:30
Career Communications Group and the Bay
58:32
STEM conference.