AI LIVE: Gateway to the Future

Year of AI partners will host a variety of events throughout the day. 

• Sal Khan Live at UT: How AI Will Save Education
  As Founder and CEO of the nonprofit Khan Academy, Salman Khan seeks to remove the barriers to education that leave over 600 million children lacking basic math and reading skills. His free, world-class curriculum—available to anyone, anywhere—has made a massive impact, with the academy’s videos reaching over a billion views. Now, Khan is using the power of AI to make education even more accessible to students around the world. He’s giving every student a personal tutor with the introduction of Khanmigo, an AI-powered teacher that The Washington Post calls “the best model we have for how to develop and implement AI for the public good.” In talks, Sal shares how we can revolutionize education with technology, open interaction and a personalized approach to learning.
• Robot Parade and Dance
  The grand finale to UT’s Year of AI will be led by Texas Robotics and UT Mariachi. The parade kicks off with musicians, students, faculty and researchers journeying from Anna Hiss Gymnasium down Speedway, showcasing innovative robots. The parade concludes at Gregory Gymnasium Plaza, where robots will perform a choreographed robot dance, followed by a fashion-show and ending with demonstrations and presentations featuring both mobile and stationary robots. This event highlights a year of collaboration that unites robotics and AI efforts across campus.
• Research Matching Event & Externship Exploration
  Are you eager to make a difference in AI research? Undergraduate and master’s students: this is your chance to connect with top faculty and cutting-edge labs. Match with a research team to kick-start your journey on groundbreaking projects! Students from all majors are welcome, provided they have the necessary machine-learning skills relevant to the projects. You can also explore the WiSTEM Externship: AI and Semiconductors, a virtual learning experience for undergraduate students to gain career skills and earn four digital badges (AI Fundamentals, Agile Fundamentals, Semiconductor 101 and a WiSTEM Externship Completion Badge) over winter break. View the project booklet, with details about available projects, including the tools you'll learn and use, required skills, personnel information and potential project outcomes. On the day of the event, participants will have the opportunity to meet faculty, learn more about their research and introduce themselves. RSVP here today.
  • Students are encouraged to bring a resume or letter of interest.
  • Refreshments will be provided. 
  • Please note: This is not a Ph.D. recruiting event.
     
• AI to the Rescue: Fighting Rising Tides and Killer Quakes with Digital Twins
  Could AI help humanity address the climate crisis and natural disasters as never before? Learn how digital twins are helping get around uncertainty in existing models to better detect relationships in large datasets that were previously hard to see but that may prove key to our shared future on the planet. This session provides examples from ocean climate science, tsunami forecasting and earthquake dynamics to reveal the inspiring power of AI.
  Speakers: Thorsten Becker, Omar Ghattas, Patrick Heimbach
• AI-Driven Health and Healthcare: The Societal Impacts
  Learn how the social science and humanities leaders who are working now at the intersections of AI, health and society are thinking about responsible uses of AI in medicine and public health. Researchers from the College of Liberal Arts, the Moody College of Communication and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work will share research-driven insights at this must-attend session for future and current health professionals.
  Speakers: Keri Stephens, S. Craig Watkins, Scott Graham
• AI for All: Navigating Accessibility Issues
  AI offers promise for greater access, but it also presents real challenges. Generative AI, for example, can simplify website navigation for people with motor impairments, but its tools remain sometimes unfriendly to blind and low-vision users of screen-readers. This panel will explore the promise and peril of accessibility with AI, highlighting work by researchers and practitioners and the potential for advocacy to ensure accessible technologies.
  Speakers: Erica Braverman, James Howison, Mick McQuaid, John Neumann, Amy Pavel
• Smart Medicine: AI’s Role in Modern Healthcare
  Curious about how AI is transforming healthcare? Join us for an exciting dive into the world of AI in medicine! We’ll explore how AI uses data and models to revolutionize patient care, from medical chatbots to ethical issues to a key example from neurosurgery. This session will give you a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and hurdles when it comes to AI in healthcare, making it a must-attend for future health professionals and those researching in the biomedical space.
  Speaker: Ying Ding
• Predictive Analytics in Health Care
  Can AI save lives or help us navigate the biggest medical decisions? Join S. Craig Watkins and other panelists for a deep dive into the field of predictive analytics, with applications ranging from helping patients decide when to have elective surgery to suicide prevention. They’ll explore how the health tech is advancing, its most promising applications, and its potential to revolutionize health and health care.
  Speakers: Kevin Bozik, S. Craig Watkins
• Galactic Quest: An AI Mission to Decode the Cosmos
  Discover how recent and near-future AI developments will be able to accelerate discoveries related to the Universe and address the most basic human question: Where do we come from? Go deep into the possibilities of the cosmos with expert astronomers, data scientists and more.
  Speakers: Arya Farahi, Matt Lease, Stella Offner, Josh Taylor
• Autonomous, Embodied Robots: The JPMorgan Chase Faculty Fellow Talk
  How close are we to autonomous robots and embodied agents that reason about and interact with the real world in ways that will change all of our lives? Yuke Zhu, the first recipient of the JPMorgan Chase Endowed Career Development Faculty Fellowship and faculty in the Department of Computer Science, will share details about his related AI research in a fireside chat with Texas Robotics Director Peter Stone, who is chief scientist and deputy president for Sony AI.
  Speakers: Yuke Zhu, Peter Stone
• Responsible AI Innovation: How AI Technologies Can Support Society’s Greatest Needs
  How can artificial intelligence be used to help address some of society’s greatest challenges? Why is it important to consider societal values and needs when it comes to the development and deployment of AI technologies? Leaders and key partners of UT Austin’s Good Systems, an interdisciplinary research grand challenge focused on ethical and responsible AI, explore what it means to build beneficial human-AI partnerships and how values-driven innovation can advance equity and sustainability and improve quality of life for all. They will delve into the potential benefits and risks of new AI applications, the ethical questions that are keeping them up, exciting new technological developments and their hopes for the future. Speakers: Chelsea Collier, Daniel Culotta, Junfeng Jiao, Luis Sentis, Matthew Lease.
  • Lunch will be provided, and networking will take place after the panel. RSVP to save your spot.
• Mind & Body: AI in Brain-Computer Interface
  A panel of experts on brain-computer interface and electroceuticals will discuss how AI is advancing this technology and what it means for revolutionizing health care.
  Speakers: José del R. Millán, David Paydarfar, Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara
• Transforming Medicine with Math and AI
  Discover how data and mathematics are revolutionizing medicine in an exciting session featuring three rising stars in computational medicine. New groundbreaking projects combine mechanism-based mathematical modeling with cutting-edge AI to tackle some of the biggest challenges in healthcare. Join to see the future of medicine unfold and get inspired by the power of AI and mathematics in healthcare.
  Speakers: Tom Yankeelov, Sophia Epstein, Shruti Motiwale, Casey Stowers
• AI in Medical Imaging
  Transformative new technologies will upend how patients receive diagnoses and health care workers approach imaging. This panel will discuss how AI is advancing research and clinical applications in diagnostic imaging, as well as what the future holds for health care as a result.
  Speakers: Edward Castillo, Jack Virostko

• Obstacles, Faculty Challenges & Student Behaviors in the Age of GenAI
  What motivates students to do what they do? In the wake of ChatGPT growth and rise of GenAI systems this question takes on more urgency. We will discuss academic practices and admin systems that are buckling under the pressure and pace of GenAI and explore what it takes to create classrooms that encourage intellectual mastery, not academic performance.
  Speaker: J.D. Thomas, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education at UT Dallas