What happens when computer scientists, artists, theologians, and engineers walk into the same room?
At the inaugural Envisioning AI at Yale symposium, it was more than a thought experiment — it was the foundation of a university-wide endeavor to shape the future of artificial intelligence and help guide society through rapid technological change.
The event, held at Kline Tower on May 9, brought together more than 500 members of the Yale community to share ideas, network, and showcase the range of AI- innovation, scholarship, and engagement happening across campus. Organized by the Office of the Provost, the event responded to a key vision of the Yale Task Force on AI: to create opportunities for students, faculty, and staff from across disciplines to make connections and highlight their work with AI.
We bring a perspective that I think is important in this moment, at a time when AI is going to have a profound influence on the world.
In opening remarks, Provost Scott Strobel reflected on Yale’s distinctive role in advancing, teaching, and critically examining AI. At Yale, faculty and students have been harnessing AI to facilitate breakthroughs in science and engineering for years, Strobel said. And AI’s recent evolution into a readily accessible tool offers new opportunities for the university to lead not only in the development of AI but also in its thoughtful critique.
“We bring a perspective that I think is important in this moment, at a time when AI is going to have a profound influence on the world,” Strobel said. “We also have a stunningly clear responsibility to carry out this work because, unlike industry, higher education is not driven by profit. We have the wide-ranging expertise to pioneer new approaches that will influence how the rest of the world develops, uses, and considers AI. And we are driven by the educational mission that challenges us to give our students and community the tools and skills they need to be well-rounded individuals in an AI-infused world.”
The symposium featured lightning talks, panels, posters, and an opera performance inspired by the life of computer science pioneer Alan Turing. Topics spanned health care, climate, ethics, language, robotics, music, and art. Faculty members also composed an AI working group to assist in organizing the symposium.
“I was struck by the scale of interest from across the university and the variety of proposals we received,” said Xenophon Papademetris, professor of biomedical informatics, data science, radiology and biomedical imaging at Yale and a member of the symposium’s review committee. “In addition to cutting-edge algorithm development, we saw submissions from individuals using AI to write poetry, tackle challenges related to climate change, and advance medical research.
“It underscored the range of work already taking place at Yale and how much potential there is for interdisciplinary collaboration.”
Yale researchers are applying AI to issues that affect everyone, from cancer research to finding solutions for anxiety to combating wildfires.
Events ran concurrently with the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture’s Spring Symposium and Yale Climate Day, co-sponsored with the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, which explored how AI and related technologies can advance research and innovation in natural climate solutions. Posters themed on AI and climate from both symposia were on display during a joint reception that closed the day.
“Advances in AI introduce new scales of analysis that make it possible to seek fresh solutions to real-world problems,” said Connie Steel, program manager for AI Initiatives in the Provost’s Office. “Yale researchers are applying AI to issues that affect everyone, from cancer research to finding solutions for anxiety to combating wildfires. The day’s presenters demonstrated twin commitments to the ethical use of AI and to the expansion of frontiers of knowledge and expression.”
Sessions throughout the day addressed both the promise and complexity of AI. In one, faculty from Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science presented advances in robotics and materials science. In another, researchers at Yale School of Medicine shared how they are implementing AI to accelerate therapies for lung disease, personalize care for heart patients, and unlock new insights into the inner workings of the human brain. Public health experts discussed how AI tools are supporting emergency response efforts by bridging language barriers between communities and health care workers. And members of the Yale School of the Environment demonstrated how they are using AI to increase access to environmental data and help communities more effectively advocate for policy change.
Other sessions explored the implications of AI in the humanities, education, and society at large. Pedagogical experts led a roundtable on maintaining academic integrity in a post-AI world and the evolving role of the instructor, for example. In a panel titled “Ethical AI: From Philosophy to Practice,” a scholar from Yale Divinity School proposed the ethical risks of developing machines with uncertain morality and a model for their responsible deployment, while a postdoctoral fellow in computer science shared progress in designing robots capable of weighing the ethical implications of complex decisions.
“As robots start being rolled out into society, supporting teachers, nurses, doctors, and [people] in different social settings, I believe it’s fundamental that they understand how and why humans make fairness decisions,” Houston Claure, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Computer Science who is leading research on robots and decision-making, said during the panel.
Throughout the event, speakers emphasized the need for equitable, transparent, and accountable AI. Attendees were encouraged to think critically about the role of AI in their own disciplines and were presented with questions as expansive as the fields already undergoing transformation from AI.
“I had a conversation about whether or not AI could be sentient. I saw several examples of AI-generated music and analysis,” said Jennifer Frederick, associate provost for academic initiatives. “I learned how AI can support ultrasound systems in health care. And I heard thoughtful, respectful debate about what AI means for how we teach and what it means to be human. [The event] created the sparks of new collaborations, which was one of our goals.”
The symposium came nearly one year after the release of the Yale Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Report. Authored by a committee of faculty and senior leaders across academic disciplines, the report emphasized the variety of AI strategies taking place within each of Yale’s graduate and professional schools. It also recommended investments in infrastructure and coordinated action across the university to support these strategies and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration.
In response to the task force last year, Yale also made a $150 million investment to spur university engagement with AI, including supporting computing infrastructure, community access to generative tools, targeted faculty hires, and seed grants.
The students who are in our classes now are graduating into a world where they must be able to use these tools, and we must be able to prepare them for such a world.
In addition to research, Yale is actively integrating AI tools to support student development and promote their effective, ethical use in classrooms. Its secure AI platform, Clarity, for example, provides the university community with powerful tools for content creation, coding, and research while maintaining data protection. Meanwhile, Yale Library and the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning have introduced a teaching framework to help faculty incorporate AI into their courses and guide students in using the technology responsibly.
In his remarks, Strobel emphasized that these financial and intellectual investments in AI are designed to empower students, faculty, staff, and university leaders to remain at the forefront of the field. The symposium, he noted, also served to highlight how the university is preparing the next generation to use AI to improve the world.
“We are places of knowledge where experts from hundreds of disciplines can explore AI and all of its complexities,” he said. “We can do it individually and also collectively at scale with different avenues and angles. That is unique to higher education. Our focus areas are all-encompassing, ranging from ethics and philosophy to science and technology. The students who are in our classes now are graduating into a world where they must be able to use these tools, and we must be able to prepare them for such a world.”
Organizers say they hope the event will serve as a catalyst for future initiatives, including research partnerships and continued dialogue across disciplines – and that, perhaps next year, they’ll need a bigger event space.
“Yale is an incredible place to be thinking about and working on AI,” Frederick said. “After this symposium, I’m more hopeful than ever that we can harness these technologies for the good of humanity.”
