What would responsible AI mean for the liberal arts? AI is already impacting classrooms, workplaces, media, and the environment in ways that bring both risks as well as new possibilities. Research and public debate have highlighted AI’s potential to accelerate scientific and medical discovery, increase accessibility to an array of content and materials, speed translation across languages, and process large amounts of archival data. At the same time, scholars and critics have raised concerns that uneven access to AI could widen inequality, that its use may undermine privacy, and that its reliance on energy-intensive data centers is contributing to environmental damage. Like other major technological and cultural shifts, these systems demand that educators and researchers ask hard questions about how they work, whose interests they serve, how they influence academic disciplines and career paths, and how they affect the world we share. What role ought Barnard and the liberal arts play in framing the conversation, contributing to research on AI, and educating the broader public?
Schedule at a Glance
9:30-10:00am
Arrival and opening remarks in the James Room with breakfast
10:00-11:30am
Keynote and Q&A with Kathleen McKeown, Henry and Gertrude Rothschild Professor of Computer Science and Founding Director of Columbia’s Data Science Institute
11:45am-1:00pm
Barnard Alumnae Panel: Responsible AI across Fields
1:00-1:45pm
Catered lunch and table discussion
1:45-3:30pm
Community Showcase and closing discussion
Additional Details
Please RSVP by January 30. We will be welcoming submissions for our Community Showcase until Thursday, January 22. For a complete event description, please see the Symposium on Responsible AI and the Liberal Arts webpage.