AI Community of Practice

Welcome to UC Berkeley's AI Community of Practice! This organization is for you, and you belong here and are welcome regardless of level of knowledge or experience with AI.

Here's why we made this community:
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. These technological advances along with the rise of computing power and the acceleration of new capabilities 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.

In order to meet this moment effectively, UC Berkeley will benefit from a loosely-coordinated, community-driven approach to learning, spreading information and developing expertise for the University. The UC Berkeley AI Community of Practice is being chartered with the sponsorship of several campus units to engage our staff, collectively spread our best ideas and thinking, and to act as an umbrella for staff-oriented work with, and in support of, AI at Berkeley. The Community of Practice provides an inclusive environment for interested Berkeley staff of all abilities and backgrounds, from beginners to expert practitioners.

In addition, the Community of Practice has convened an affiliated Berkeley AI Meetup to showcase challenges, inquiry, expertise and innovations of interest to Berkeley and our peers across the UC system and at other universities. 

How To Join

Any staff member at UC Berkeley is eligible to join here (with CalNet ID) https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/g/ucb-ai-community/

Goals

• Provide a hub of community for people across Berkeley working on all forms of AI to find each other, and for leadership to be able to identify subject matter experts among staff to engage on projects or provide input on campus decisions.

• Provide a necessary nexus for institutional expansion of knowledge, skills and abilities, and a culture of inclusive, responsible innovation for Berkeley staff from many departments and divisions.

• To foster community discovery, evaluation and sharing of AI related use-cases (scenarios), needs and approaches (including policy, services, etc.) that may effectively serve Berkeley's mission

• To support the community in discovering trade-offs, better understanding risks and learning together about where different forms of AI are fit for various purposes

• Provide community input to campus governance bodies (such as the IT Architecture & Infrastructure governance committee, which is a sponsor of the CoP), on policies for using and deploying AI services.

• To leverage the community voice in shaping campus IT architecture as it relates to AI and automation (including security, identity management, network etc.)

• To foster input from the community into Berkeley's AI technology investment priorities (both in staff time to support things and for funding needs to purchase services) and identifying economies of scale.

• To identify opportunities and areas of the most need to advocate for training related to AI – including to support career lattice and opportunities for staff, and also to support each other when our jobs change.

Guiding Principles

We are inclusive, innovative, collaborative, cross-cutting (staff/faculty/student, interdisciplinary). We listen to each other. We show respect to all people. We help Berkeley move nimbly, with agility. We adhere to UC Berkeley's bIT Core Values. As a community we balance grassroots with sponsor perspectives for the good of the institution.

Planning Group

The UCB AI Community of Practice has been convened by the CTO Office and sponsored by multiple University stakeholders. The UCB AI community planning group bears primary responsibility for the culture, charter, goals and outcomes across the UC Berkeley community. Each formal sponsor may nominate one person as a point-person, to be involved via the planning group or as a liaison. The group has also applied to become an official UC Berkeley Community of Practice via People & Culture.

Advisers

The following people are formal advisers to the UC Berkeley AI Community of Practice