Letter from President Armacost shares goals of UND’s AI initiative and invites campus community to participate in its activities
Editor’s note: The following letter from UND President Andrew Armacost was first sent to students, faculty and staff on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Dear Team UND,
Thanks for the great start to the year and your unending commitment to the mission of the University. I am taking pen to paper this morning, as I will do routinely on timely issues related to artificial intelligence.
I have lived in a computational world my entire career. Since my undergraduate days, I have developed models and algorithms that have supported human decisions. I have seen many examples of how math and computing have positively impacted the world, and, yet, I have seen the uncertainty they can create.
This uncertainty is why, in the spring semester, we created the UND AI Collective, or Co.AI (koh – ay – eye) for short. Following its launch in January, I have talked publicly about the importance of this group at events like the State of the University address. My intent in writing this note is to make you aware of this collective and its goals, to invite your participation, and to make you aware of our current vision for how Co.AI intersects with other UND structures and entities.
Co.AI’s purpose is to bring people together from across the campus to share in their exploration of AI, to discuss how it is impacting teaching and learning, to explore how AI will impact our research and discovery, to examine how AI might intersect with university operations, and to wrestle with ethical issues and risks. Co.AI’s exploration of how AI impacts these areas welcomes discussion of both the benefits and the critique of AI. We don’t approach AI uncritically: we approach it as a university should, seeking to understand its full range of possibilities and effects.
Co.AI is about curiosity and exploration. Three thought leaders from our campus chair this group: Anna Kinney, UND’s Director for AI in Teaching and Learning; Richard Van Eck, SMHS’s Monson Endowed Chair for Medical Education and Director of the Office of Learning Innovation; and Sri Lalitha Nuthulapati, UIT’s Emerging Technology Manager. Each brings their own perspectives to this team, which includes working groups comprising volunteer faculty, staff, and students who have an interest in AI and the areas mentioned above.
Co.AI should inspire discussion, sharing, and critique. The choice of name signifies an open community that explores the tremendous opportunities and the ever-present risks of AI. UND, with its proud tradition in the humanities, arts, social sciences, STEM, and professional disciplines, is an exceptional place to make a difference as both an accelerator of technology and, simultaneously, a critical check against potential outcomes that could harm humanity.
Co.AI is not a governance body. UND has separate governance bodies that examine and develop policies for technology, data, security, and computation that intend to be responsive to the changing state of AI. Governance of our curricular requirements for digital literacy happens through our established curricular processes that must also be reflective of the growing presence of AI. Undoubtedly, experts from across the campus who participate in Co.AI might be involved in those governance discussions due to their expertise. Co.AI, however, is neither developing policy nor serving as an AI governance body.
Co.AI does not select technologies or AI tools for the campus. Such decisions are made by other bodies. Co.AI will certainly include members with expertise in the tools, methods, and applications of AI, and they might lend their advice to campus decisions. As one example, recent discussions by members of Co.AI led to suggestions for more equitable access to limited computing resources, but the decision to purchase specific computational tools was the responsibility of UIT and not Co.AI.
As I sign off, I commit to continuing this discussion with a series of short AI notes to the campus to promote additional conversation. If you have avoided thinking about AI, now is the time to start. It is not as mysterious as it sounds. Most importantly, the way we prepare our students, our staff, and our faculty truly matters, as we balance AI and its advancement with the need to preserve the essence of what it means to be human.
Andy Armacost
UND President
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