Tennessee Tech is partnering with UT Knoxville and the AI Tennessee Consortium to host a statewide summit focused on AI uses Tuesday.
Tech Acting Vice President for Research and Economic Development Michael Aikens said the event will bring together representatives from multiple universities, private businesses, and government entities.
“What our focus is, is how are the researchers expanding this out to create new systems, to create new companies, to create new businesses that are AI enabled to really solve a lot of the problems that are facing society right now,” Aikens said.
Aikens said the summit will highlight how artificial intelligence can be integrated into mobile applications to assist with financial investments and portfolio research. Aikens said the technology is also evolving to mimic real human interactions for customer service, allowing for actual conversations that were not possible just one year ago.
“One reason that we are having this conference is really to be able to talk about those and because it’s so wide and diverse and so new, where do we need to go next?” Aikens said. “What do we need to do with it? What conversations do we need to have? And then also, we need to think about responsible and ethical use because this is artificial intelligence and because this artificial intelligence doesn’t sleep, it’s 24/7.”
Aikens said the research community is currently investigating how to deploy the technology in a way that encourages human thought rather than replacing it. Aikens said this includes educating the public on the limits of the technology and ensuring students continue to think critically.
“Now that artificial intelligence is taking a lot of that thinking out of the equation for us, we need to think about how do we use and deploy artificial intelligence in such a manner that still encapsulates and encourages human thought,” Aikens said. “For this particular conference, we’re really focusing on how do we use it to create business startups? How can we create more jobs? How can we integrate AI into business processes to make them more efficient, to make more money, to create a better world?”
Aikens said the transition toward AI-enabled systems represents a new industrial revolution that will create high-tech, higher-paying jobs that do not exist yet. Aikens said researchers are working with the private sector and government to create safeguards and reduce the environmental impact of the data centers required to power the technology.
“This is another industrial revolution where we’re looking at, okay, AI can take over some of these jobs that have been traditionally done by humans and gives other new opportunities for humans to have new jobs that don’t even exist yet, in many cases these are higher tech, higher paying jobs, jobs that can be done remotely,” Aikens said. “But for us, for this interview and for this particular conference, we’re looking at how do we create new businesses based on AI and how do we create and infuse more economic vitality, how do we create new jobs, how do we create opportunities for people to improve their lives right here in rural Tennessee.”
