Artificial intelligence continues to advance, but human judgment remains essential, according to technology leaders and experts at Rutgers University.
The event, hosted by the Institute for Data, Research and Innovation Sciences (IDRIS), convened industry leaders, faculty, and students to explore the future of AI in several areas, including education, government, physical sciences, the workplace, and healthcare.
Rutgers University-Newark Professor Jeffrey Robinson positioned this symposium, part of Rutgers University’s ROADMAPS AI Week, as representative of its broader mission. “We’re here to talk about a topic that’s very important not only to researchers, graduate students, people on this campus, but also to society,” Robinson said. “We bring people together in the community and the corporate community to tackle complex problems.”
He highlighted the collaborative nature of IDRIS, led by Director-General Faye Cobb-Peyton, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Innovation and Professor in the School of Mathematics and Computer Science.
Several experts at the event predicted that while AI is becoming an essential tool, it will not replace humans in the workplace.
“There’s going to be a big premium on the human part,” said Boris Kozak, Meta’s head of engineering practice for AI and a member of the IDRIS advisory board. “I don’t think AI will take away jobs.”
Kozak described the history of AI, from early coding systems like Fortran, invented by IBM in the late 1950s, to the revolutionary emergence of agent AI that can independently complete complex tasks over long periods of time, a development that took a major leap forward last spring.
“This creates a way for agents to work independently for hours on end for the first time,” he said, calling the advancement a “watershed moment.”
But even as AI systems become more capable, Kozak said AI will augment human labor rather than replace it.
“We are not working less, we are coordinating more,” he added.
The most valuable workers, Kozak and others argued, are those who can guide AI with good judgment and creativity. Additional speakers from the technology industry highlighted both the possibilities and complexities of integrating AI into the real world.
Mary Strain, senior strategist for AI and machine learning at Amazon Web Services, urged universities to think beyond basic literacy. “I hear about that a lot,” she said. “It makes me think again: How do we be good stewards of technology in our lives and in our communities?”
Strain listed challenges that institutions must address, including bias, accuracy, copyright, and security.
Ronnie Falcon, Chief Product Officer at the OpenMined Foundation, mentioned one of the most problematic issues in AI research: access to data. She advocated a process that would allow researchers to analyze sensitive information without having direct access to it.
The goal is to “empower researchers to answer important questions” while protecting both privacy and sensitive information, which is an essential step in understanding the real-world impact of AI, she said.
A recurring theme throughout the symposium was the need to confront bias in AI systems. The IDRIS committee, led by Juan Rios, a Rutgers-Newark graduate and Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow who will join the School of Social Work in the fall, emphasized the importance of bringing diverse perspectives into AI development and using it to improve lives.
Panelists, including Ebony McGee, professor of innovation and inclusion in the STEM ecosystem at Johns Hopkins University, and Michelle Rogers, professor of computing and informatics at Drexel University, emphasized that AI systems reflect existing social inequalities. Professor Gregory Polumbescu of the Rutgers-Newark School of Public Affairs and Government also participated.
The symposium included a hands-on workshop led by AWS, where attendees explored Amazon QuickSuite, an agent AI-powered workspace launched in October to automate business workflows, research, and data analysis. At the symposium, faculty and student researchers discussed how best to use AI to promote interdisciplinary research, and faculty participated in “Lightning Talks,” where faculty presented their AI-related research in three minutes.
Rutgers faculty discussed projects ranging from using AI to improve math education to tracking Newark’s health and improving student health outcomes. A panel of Rutgers-Newark University deans discussed how higher education must evolve in response to AI.
“My North Star is about students, the student experience, and student success. We need to develop both technical skills and critical thinking. We want them to know that we’re going to teach them how to use these tools and use them responsibly,” said Nancy La Vigne, dean of the School of Criminal Justice.
Kai-Feng Yang, dean of the School of Public Affairs and Public Administration, highlighted the role of AI in public leadership, and Johanna Bond, dean of the School of Law, said AI is a tool to expand access to justice and address disparities in housing, employment, and other areas.
Peyton asked how universities can help faculty adopt AI responsibly.
As technology advances rapidly, the deans agreed, the answer lies in taking time and thinking carefully.
