Artificial intelligence is just beginning to come of age.
Although the field of AI in all its forms has been around for more than seventy years, the latest waves of new AI capabilities have transformed what's possible in meaningful ways, reminiscent of the rise of the internet or the inception of public cloud and mobile computing. Technological advances along with the rise of computing power have accelerated new capabilities that will deeply impact core functions of teaching, learning, research and administration at all universities. Advances are occurring across many domains of AI-- and the community of practice encompasses this wider interpretation-- from machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics, including generative AI and also inquiry into AI ethics, explainable AI and knowledge representation.
All across the University-- indeed across all higher education and the business world, people are actively beginning to identify and exploit AI in its many forms. Embracing new technologies is not without risk. Berkeley faces a daunting number of legal, policy, technical, infrastructural, environmental, ethical and data management questions accompanying the rise of AI. Berkeley faculty, staff and students face an imperative to stay on top of the tools to keep the University competitive -- and they require timely, action-oriented decisions from the institution.