A new committee at the University of Wyoming is creating guidelines for using artificial intelligence (AI) on campus.
The first report, to be released later this year, will outline opportunities for research and private or government partnerships, as well as recommend guardrails for the ethical use of AI in the classroom.
Cal State leaders have named Jeff Hammerlink, associate director of the School of Computing, to lead the effort. A GIS researcher by training, Hamerling has seen AI move from the realm of software development and specialized research tools to mainstream adoption.
“This is now becoming a huge part of higher education and cannot be ignored,” he said. “We need to be able to not only take advantage of opportunities, but also address them while also addressing potential negative impacts.”
This committee is not the University of Washington’s first foray into AI policy work. When ChatGPT becomes publicly available in late 2022 and the AI boom ignites, individual instructors will started fighting Using AI in the classroom. wisconsin named the expert committee it has resources collected and We have published some publicly available guidelines.
But the university new commission This will be the farthest-reaching effort to date.
Its duties include examining hiring practices and the state of research funding opportunities, including through the fledgling federal government. genesis projectthe use of AI tools in scientific research.
“We have many faculty members on our campus who have approached this issue with a cautious view and an understanding of the potential downsides, while also thinking about the potential positive impacts of AI,” Hammerling said. “The idea behind this committee is to really expand our ability to coordinate and support AI activities across campus, covering all the different categories of application areas.”
Commissions are built on: Efforts have already begun Expand AI research and grow the university’s computing capabilities.
ChatGPT remains one of the most popular AI applications, but what does “artificial intelligence” mean? much widerand even “”ambiguousThe umbrella term “” is now used in marketing to describe everything from chess-playing robots to social media feed algorithms to image generators. This broad category includes many tools already in use in academic settings.
University of Wisconsin President Ed Seidel said AI has a long history in lab and research computing, including in his own career. Sediel, who is helping search for gravitational waves as a physicist, said AI techniques such as training neural networks to identify signals in large data sets “very quickly” have accelerated his research.
“Finding patterns has been very helpful in identifying signals in gravitational wave detectors. It used to take millions of CPU hours, millions of hours of computer time to find a signal,” Seidel said.
He said the Wisconsin commission will consider how universities can further take advantage of the new application. This may include the Autonomous Driving Research Institute.
“We are currently looking at building several laboratories in scientific fields such as chemistry, materials science and physics…that will be operated by robotics and artificial intelligence technologies,” Seidel said. “For example, you can read a paper that just came out, realize that you can run an experiment automatically in the lab, extend the results, and even draft a new paper with those results. That’s now possible.”
AI-assisted or AI-driven research could have some benefits unique to Wyoming, Seidel added.
“We are looking for ways to make asphalt from coal,” the president said. Continuing efforts To find uses other than energy Wyoming Coal. “So maybe there’s a way to change the recipe a little bit, a little bit at a time, and see which one makes the best asphalt out of coal.”
However, AI is not without its critics who point out its shortcomings. Too many human activities are outsourced or ethical concerns raised by new applications.
In 2026 alone, the White House will use AI tools Alteration of immigration arrest photos and more“AI-enhanced” images of major news events muddying the waters of debate Elon Musk’s AI application Grok goes viral Created millions of non-consensual nude imagesincluding some children based on user prompts. Since then, its owners have limited its image creation capabilities, but Reuters investigation It turns out that Grok still generates such images on prompt.
In academia, instructors have seen some students utilize tools such as ChatGPT. create an essay from scratchMeanwhile, students, including those at UW, are claiming their instructors. Using AI to generate course materials Or to grade assignments.
“It’s important for students to realize that they do have, and will continue to have, access to these tools,” Hammerling said. “But I think it’s important to set some ground rules and caveats about when the use of AI tools is appropriate or inappropriate, and ethical or unethical.”
Other observers are concerned about advances in AI technology. overrated and overratedand where we live now is AI bubble. No matter what happens on the economic front, the technology “hype cycle” is not new, and there will continue to be AI tools that legitimately serve education, research and other purposes, Hammerling said.
“Certainly, it’s good to realize that there’s going to be a lot of hype around this kind of new and innovative technology,” he said. “Having said that, I think AI is a very transformative technology and set of methodologies. And while the hype around AI may diminish a little bit, it’s not going to disappear. And as I said before, AI has been around long before ChatGPT and will continue to grow.”
President Seidel agreed.
“I just want to say we can’t stop it, so we have to learn how to use it really effectively and ethically and to our benefit,” he said. “Given what’s out there, how do we make sure all our students and faculty have the right kinds of tools? So how do we employ them? How do we make sure they’re available? How do we use them to enhance business processes?”
The University of California will host a mini-conference for faculty on February 16 that will focus on “practical strategies” for incorporating AI into the classroom. It will be held in the Coe Library and on Zoom from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is limited.
The commission plans to release its first official report, UW and AI Today, by mid-June, which it says will “provide a strategic framework for UW’s AI policies, investments, and best practices over the next two years.”
