The University of Pittsburgh’s strategy surrounding artificial intelligence will be practical, supporting students and the workforce, said Michael Colaresi, newly named director of the academic Hub for AI and Data Science Leadership.
“We’re going to be a welcoming and visible front door for AI in the academic mission,” Colaresi said of the new hub, known as HAIL. “There’s an amazing group of people working on this, and entrepreneurs, as well as skeptics, that are thinking about how to do this in the right way.
“Our job is connecting those people together and helping create solutions.”
A statement from Provost Joe McCarthy said the hub will facilitate collaboration across teaching, learning and more for AI and data science efforts. AI innovation currently just remains in individual classrooms or departments, Colaresi said.
“HAIL is going to be very intentional about making sure there’s a heads-up display that’s available both to the internal Pitt community and external, about what works, and challenges, and sharing what’s going on at the edge and touching the ground, so we can learn from it,” he said.
The hub will also listen and learn from what employers seek in future hires, Colaresi said. It will connect Pitt’s resources to those workforce demands.
AI developments move fast, Colaresi said, and will affect all fields, not just technology.
“The goal of us (is) to be practical, and to take AI from something that’s glowing blue and in the cloud and instead (make it) something people can use and engage with to add value and move their careers forward,” Colaresi said.
The hub comes as Pitt is rolling out Claude for Education programming, an advanced, conversational AI assistant developed by Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company.
Pitt officials said previously it could help with studying, pose open-ended questions or writing prompts, and offer other educational and organizational support for students and faculty. Claude will be deployed at all of Pitt’s campuses.
Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer said staff and faculty gained access to Clade in early December, “and we’ve seen strong engagement as people explore how AI can support teaching, research and administrative work.”
Students will get access to Claude over winter break, he said. Using Claude is voluntary. Faculty have full discretion over how AI tools may or may not be used in courses.
“Pitt is committed to positioning our students, faculty and staff at the forefront of applied AI — both advancing research and preparing our community to use these tools effectively in their careers and work,” Stonesifer said. “Claude for Education is one element of that broader strategy.”
Colaresi said it’s a good thing that Pitt is giving students and staff choices across AI technology.
“We don’t think AI and (generative AI) is going away, so we think it’s something that we need to engage with, but responsibly; with the goal being empowering our learners, to make and inform good decisions for the rest of their lives,” he said.