COLLEGE
PARK, Md., April 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The
University of Maryland's Robert H.
Smith School of Business has launched the Center for Artificial
Intelligence in Business to conduct research and outreach in order
to realize the potential of AI through intentional design and
governance frameworks centering on human judgment and creativity.
The center will work in conjunction with the university's newly
announced Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at
Maryland (AIM).
The new center taps into the school's research and significant
faculty expertise in artificial intelligence, analytics and data
science, which is distributed across multiple departments and
centers of excellence. "Organizations are increasingly turning to
AI to redefine processes and improve productivity, customer
experience, and decision-making," says Prabhudev Konana, dean of the Smith School.
"Smith faculty are among the best thought leaders in this
area. The center positions Smith to more effectively bring that
expertise to businesses, policymakers and institutes, researchers,
students and the broader community."
"At the University of Maryland, we
are leading the way in shaping the future of AI, and doing so in a
way that promotes responsible, ethical and trustworthy development
and use. With AI utilization skyrocketing across all sectors of
business, the launch of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in
Business will allow us to amplify the expertise of our Smith School
faculty to advance the public good across industries," says Provost
Jennifer King Rice.
"What the AI center represents is interdisciplinary research and
engagement at its very best," says Wedad
Elmaghraby, senior associate dean of the Smith School.
"Representing faculty from every discipline within Smith, we have
the expertise, capabilities and commitment to engage with
practitioners and academics to help tackle the novel challenges and
opportunities barrelling toward us with AI."
Leading the center is inaugural director Balaji Padmanabhan, Dean's Professor of
Decision, Operations & Information Technologies, aided by both
an industry advisory board and faculty advisory board. The center
was launched with seed funding from GRF CPAs and Advisors.
The center will be an important partner for the business and
policy community in AI and plans to host industry-focused
conferences and events including the annual AI Design and
Governance Conference, the first of which was held in January 2024. Executive education offerings will
help businesses navigate practical issues around AI design and
implementation. Center-affiliated faculty will also engage more
broadly with Smith and UMD students.
Addressing issues around ethics, bias and responsible use while
helping businesses create short and long-term value will be central
to the center's mission. In addition to intentional AI-enabled
design and governance, the research conducted by the center will
focus on developing AI algorithms to address problems faced by
business, and to help businesses establish AI systems that respect
the rule of law, follow ethical guidelines, and operate within
established regulatory boundaries. The center will be an important
voice in the development of rules and regulations to promote
transparency, accountability and respect for privacy in the use of
AI by businesses. The various activities of the center will aid
policymakers to strike the right balance between meaningful support
for transformative products and protection of fundamental
rights.
The role of humans in an AI-enabled work environment will also
be a topic of exploration. Roland
Rust, Distinguished University Professor, David Bruce Smith
Chair in Marketing and author of the book "The Feeling Economy: How
AI is Creating an Era of Empathy," (with Ming-Hui Huang) says workers with intuition,
empathy, creativity and people skills will thrive. "As AI is taking
over more thinking tasks, human workers are pushed more into
feeling tasks. That is currently a differential advantage for
humans, although we have active ongoing work on 'feeling AI,' that
can effectively simulate human empathy."
"AI provides an incredible opportunity for businesses to create
amazing products and services. Our aim is to ensure this potential
of AI is realized while mitigating and managing risks in a
responsible manner," says Padmanabhan. "Also, and importantly,
organizations that put people first, whether as employees or
consumers, have a history of achieving greatness and AI doesn't
change that. There are important concerns about AI's impact on the
future of work itself, and the center will strive to be an
important voice in the community to shape this as well."
The Smith School's strategic focus on the transformative impact
of AI is already being seen in classrooms and beyond. Smith is
actively integrating AI into what students learn and works with
industry partners to ensure content is up to date and relevant.
- The AI Specialization for Full-time MBAs was launched in Spring
2024, making the Smith School one of the early movers in this space
for students.
- Professor Sean Cao's textbook on
how to use AI in accounting and finance is available for free as
part of Smith's AI Initiative for Capital Market Research, funded
by GRF CPAs and Advisors.
- Professors Liye Ma, Wendy Moe, Wedad
Elmaghraby and Kunpeng Zhang
work closely with companies such as Amazon, Deloitte and Meta on
AI-related initiatives and translate those experiences into the
classroom.
- The Office of Executive Education offers a portfolio of
AI-related executive education opportunities directed by Professor
P.K. Kannan.
- The recently launched UMD-LinkUp AI Jobs tracker project, led
by Professors Anil Gupta, Siva Viswanathan and Kunpeng Zhang, has been extensively covered in
the media by Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and others.
- Professors Lauren Rhue,
Jui Ramaprasad and Margret
Bjornadottir have highlighted important issues with research on
bias and AI for social good.
- Professor Roland Rust's book and
articles in AI, several of which have won awards, have been
cited almost 5,000 times. Rust is also leading an AI cluster of
four courses in the University Honors Program.
AI-related research conducted by faculty across departments will
inform the center in its mission to help businesses and policy
makers understand and manage the AI revolution that is taking
place.
Learn more about AI at the Smith School.
About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of
Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an
internationally recognized leader in management education and
research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of
Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers
undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA,
business master's, PhD and executive education programs, as well as
outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its
degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations
in North America and Asia.
Contact: Veronica Robinson,
vrobins9@umd.edu
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/university-of-marylands-smith-school-of-business-launches-center-for-artificial-intelligence-in-business-302125280.html
SOURCE University of Maryland's
Robert H. Smith School of Business