By Andrew Kramer, Newswire Intern 

Xavier’s Williams College of Business hosted an Artificial Intelligence (AI) event last Thursday, featuring a speech by Dr. Jarrod Humphrey and a panel of upperclassmen. Xavier will be offering free AI literacy programs and certificates to anyone associated with the university, including students and their families. 

This event was organized through the efforts of every business club, including the Accounting Society, Marketing Society, Business Leaders of Tomorrow, Delta Sigma Pi, BAIS Club, Sedler Excel, Women in Business and Minorities in Business. 

The event began with an introduction by professor David Humphrey, presenting the event’s main speaker, Dr. Jarrod Humphrey, who is a Xavier professor and the director of the Robinette Center for Innovation, known as The Loop. 

The first point on the agenda was a hard look at the future and a view into how AI has grown even just in the past few months. The capability of AI is growing at an exponential rate. This growth is occurring at the same time that the prices of AI are falling. 

“Xavier must prepare for where these two trends are taking us, not just where AI is today,” Jarrod Humphrey said. 

AI models have recently excelled past human expectations in fields of mathematics and physics. In the present day, AI can pass almost any academic test that is given to it with reasonable accuracy. 

With these new developments, AI’s academic powers have surpassed human ability, so institutions like Xavier must find ways to teach their students in ways that are complimentary to AI in the real world. 

Xavier’s history of Jesuit education seems to provide an advantage in the world of AI. As stated by Jarrod Humphrey, values of judgment, critical thinking, human oversight, discernment and ethics have been instilled in Xavier students since the university’s founding. These values are what will determine success in an AI future. 

Jarrod Humphrey’s second point was creating a plan to position Xavier to win, and it revolves around putting people first. 

Xavier’s current goal for AI across the university is to spread AI literacy. The university plans to offer free AI certificate programs for anyone associated with the school, meaning students, faculty, staff and parents of students can access these resources without a paywall. 

Another source of victory in the AI world is becoming AI native, meaning reimagining what AI can do instead of adding it to what already exists. AI can use its judgment to perform tasks, and human judgment can become an oversight to check AI’s work. 

Xavier’s relationship with AI is best summarized in The Loop, a building across the street from Smith Hall. It is a physical presence for AI learning where students will have access to both physical and digital AI technology. More information about this developing building can be found at loop.xavier.edu, which details future Xavier events surrounding AI. 

Students should look forward to many new ways to engage with AI on campus, including more guest speakers and AI literacy courses. 

For students hoping to learn more about AI and earn credit, Management 342: AI in Practice is offered to increase students’ knowledge about how AI is currently changing the world. Two AI certifications are earned while taking this course as well. 

“My goal is that we should be having many more such events, and that we is not just the students, certainly not just the business students,” Jarrod Humphrey said. 

“The time is now to bring all the people touching Xavier, faculty, staff, students, families of students, and all others, we’ll bring them into the fold, provide them the education, that way they can make informal choices in their spiritual life, their professional life, and their personal life.”