Editor's note: This expert Q&A is part of our “AI is everywhere ... now what?” special project exploring the potential (and potential pitfalls) of artificial intelligence in our lives. Explore more topics and takes on the project page.
Behind the cutting-edge research and technology-driven projects at Arizona State University lies a critical, often unseen force: ensuring the university's AI initiatives have a solid foundation.
Zohair Zaidi, director of AI technology for Enterprise Technology’s AI Acceleration team, is focused on making groundbreaking ideas a reality for the ASU community — with a specific focus on ensuring the technology is accessible to as many users as possible.
“AI has the potential to be a true equalizer in presenting knowledge and education in ways that cater to the diverse learning styles of students,” Zaidi said. “Traditionally, even with technology, a professor can only present teachings in a limited number of ways that may apply to some students in a class, but not all.”
Before taking on the leadership of the AI Acceleration team in May 2023, Zaidi led the engineering team at Enterprise Technology, overseeing the development of the ASU Mobile App and Enterprise Experience Center chatbot system. He also led the ASU smart technology initiatives, where he and his team researched, developed and deployed various Internet of Things, or IoT, solutions on campus.
Zaidi advocates for reducing the technological barrier for the university community and personalizing the learning experience for students, all while keeping ethical considerations and adaptability at the forefront.
Here, he delves deeper into his views on AI and its future at ASU, as well as his approach with the rest of the AI Acceleration team for its implementation.
Question: What is the focus of your work to advance AI at ASU?
Answer: The focus of my work is to reduce the technological barrier to AI for the ASU community. We want to allow anyone interested in exploring AI for the betterment of ASU to do so in a secure and easy way. One of the big challenges with AI is the vast amount of buzz surrounding it, making it difficult for people to know where to begin or what’s safe to use. One example of how I am making it easier for people to understand AI use is through our user-friendly CreateAI platform.
The platform is designed to empower the ASU community to build and use AI tools easily, even without engineering backgrounds, by simplifying complex AI tasks into user-friendly tools. It provides a secure, private environment for innovation and development, ensuring access to top-notch technology and making AI more accessible and cost-effective.
Q: In what ways can AI-driven adaptive learning technologies personalize and improve the educational experience for students? And how can these technologies support inclusive education?
A: With AI, the potential is limitless. A single set of lectures from a professor could be uniquely tailored for every student based on their preferred method of interaction with the knowledge.
For example, students who learn better through analogies could ask AI to explain every concept using analogies they understand, such as sports concepts for learning physics or cooking concepts for math. Those who need to learn using different modalities, whether due to physical disability or preference, could choose to consume the same lectures via visual representations or instant translation into different languages. This ensures that all students can understand the material in a way that suits them best.
Q: How does AI stimulate continuous learning and support professionals in reskilling and upskilling to remain relevant in the job market?
A: Given that large language models have been trained on the vast amount of knowledge available on the internet, the path for people to learn new skills becomes extremely short. The only limitations are their own curiosity and time. AI models possess enough knowledge on almost every subject or skill to allow anyone to gain a strong foothold and provide the necessary tools to take the next step in deepening their knowledge, whether through classes or practice.
Often, not knowing where to begin or what questions to ask impedes people from learning new skills. In these cases, AI models excel at helping users formulate the right questions in the right order, facilitating the start of their learning journey.
Q: What are the key ethical considerations that students should be aware of when working with AI technologies? And how can universities promote the responsible development of AI systems?
A: Given that the source of an AI model's knowledge is what is available on the public internet, filtered and safeguarded by programmed mechanisms established by humans with their own ethical conceptions and specific worldviews, it’s important to approach the outputs of AI models with caution. Hallucinations, where the AI confidently provides factually incorrect answers, are common due to the mix of facts and fiction on the internet from which these models learn. Users must always be aware of this when interacting with AI models.
Students should also remember that AI models are not replacements for human interactions. While AI can teach the same concepts, teachers offer much more than just new knowledge. They embody certain areas of expertise and provide inspiration that AI cannot replicate. Traditional teacher-student relationships extend beyond the transmission of knowledge; there is an intuitive aspect where teachers impart wisdom and inspiration beyond words. Many of us have felt awe and inspiration from our best teachers, an intangible quality that goes beyond learning concepts from a textbook.
I hope the sanctity of this relationship remains intact and that students continue to seek out inspiring teachers. AI should augment this relationship, not replace it.
Q: What opportunities related to AI in higher education most excite you?
A: The most exciting aspect of AI in higher education for me is seeing how individuals in their respective domains of knowledge use AI to solve problems or enhance learning. We have already seen professors and students use AI in various ways, from assisting with learning disabilities to instantly translating courses into hundreds of languages and building chatbots that allow students to ask questions about a professor's lectures. This is just the beginning.
AI is everywhere ... now what?
Artificial intelligence isn't just handy for creating images like the above — it has implications in an increasingly broad range of fields, from health to education to saving the planet.
Explore the ways in which ASU professors are thinking about and using AI in their research on our special project page.
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