AI Town Hall showcases responsible AI efforts across campus
The Office of Responsible AI hosted an AI Town Hall on April 28 to share how the university’s AI roadmap is advancing across campus through emerging programs, tools and partnerships designed to support responsible use of AI.
David Ebert, chief AI officer, presenting at the AI town hall on April 28
Photo by Kris Hanning, U of A Office of Research and Partnerships
The event offered a progress report on the university’s broader approach to artificial intelligence, from governance and teaching to research, operations and student support. During opening remarks, David Ebert, chief AI officer, said the roadmap process has helped identify campus needs and priorities as the university works to expand AI in ways that are ethical, practical and community-driven.
Ebert also pointed to the growing role of AI in research and innovation, describing work tied to health, agriculture, energy and space systems, as well as efforts to use AI in patent and market viability assessments. A recent university review identified more than $100 million in funded projects and activities that already involve machine learning or AI, underscoring how quickly the technology is becoming part of the university’s research enterprise.
AI Tools Integration
The town hall offered a closer look at U of A GenAI, the university’s AI platform. Launched on Jan. 30, the platform gives users access to multiple large language models in a private environment designed to meet university security and privacy needs. Unlike many public AI tools, conversations in U of A GenAI are not used for model training. As of April 28, the platform had reached 2,300 total users and averaged about 200 daily active users.
Built with Amazon Web Services Bedrock, U of A GenAI supports multimodal prompts, built-in web search and code generation. The platform is expected to expand with custom AI assistants, developer access through API keys, AI sandboxes and tools that allow users to create knowledge bases and customized models. Those future capabilities are intended to make AI more useful for departments, research teams and individuals with specialized needs.
AI Fluency Programs
The Office of Responsible AI is also building learning pathways to help the campus community develop AI fluency over time. Through the Google AI for Education Accelerator, members of the U of A community can access training collections that include Google AI Essentials, the Google AI Professional Certificate and other certification courses. The office is also working with Arizona Online on self-paced courses planned for fall 2026, including Introduction to Generative AI and AI Automation & Agents.
Those formal training opportunities are complemented by recurring programs that invite people into the conversation. The AI Insights series brings together faculty, staff, students, researchers and community members to share how AI is being used across disciplines. AI Info Sessions focus on practical demonstrations and education around AI tools, research methods and responsible use. Together, the two series have drawn more than 1,000 attendees across 35 sessions.
The office’s partnership with Amazon Web Services was another key part of the town hall. AWS Bedrock supports the models available through U of A GenAI, and the partnership is expected to grow through hands-on campus engagement. A fall enablement series is being planned to bring AWS subject-matter experts to work with students, faculty, researchers and staff on practical uses of AI.
The town hall closed with a reflection on the deeper cultural questions AI is raising for higher education. Nathan Pritts, a professor at University of Arizona Global Campus and a faculty fellow for AI strategy, challenged attendees to look beyond speed and efficiency and consider how AI can strengthen the human work at the heart of teaching, research and service.
The Office of Responsible AI plans to continue that conversation through regular town halls. Future events include the National AI in Health Innovation Symposium on Sept. 15, an AI Town Hall with AWS Day on Oct. 14 and the Arizona AI Leadership Summit in spring 2027. Student opportunities are also expanding through the Wildcat AI Internship and Wildcat AI Fellowship.
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