麻豆传媒

As artificial intelligence tech like ChatGPT, Midjourney and Copilot have transformed how we work and create, 23 tech-savvy teens from 14 local schools stepped into the future at the inaugural “AI Experience at UB” program.

At the free event, held June 30-July 1, students learned about the foundations of AI and machine learning, received hands-on training with a range of AI tools, used AI to develop and pitch innovative business ideas, built video games and learned about various aspects of ethics and trust in AI.  

During one hands-on session, UB faculty led students through a physical simulation to help them better understand the inner workings of a neural network, which forms the backbone of AI.

“The students learned how an AI model takes an input — a picture in our case — and uses math to predict an output, which was the type of animal in our picture,” says Kevin Cleary, clinical assistant professor of management science and systems, who developed the simulation. “Throughout the process, the students each played the role of various parts of the neural network and manually calculated the math to produce a prediction at the end.”

The AI Experience at UB was hosted by the School of Management’s Center for AI Business Innovation and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Center of Excellence in Information Systems Assurance Research and Education, in collaboration with the UB Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science; it was supported by the UB AI Seed Funding Grants.

Leading the program were School of Management faculty members Laura Amo, assistant professor; Cleary; Joana Gaia, clinical assistant professor; David Murray, clinical professor; and Dominic Sellitto, clinical assistant professor, all of the Department of Management Science and Systems, and Celine Krzan, clinical assistant professor of entrepreneurship, along with Shambhu Upadhyaya, professor of computer science and engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

“This is the first of many K-12 experiences the School of Management and Center for AI Business Innovation will be bringing to the community,” says Sellitto, who also serves as assistant faculty director of the Center for AI Business Innovation. “We look forward to providing platforms to foster creative, impactful and ethical engagement with these exciting new technologies.”