A sense of excitement filled the air as Emory students, faculty, staff and community partners gathered in the Rose Library Sept. 11 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Center for AI Learning. The center’s inaugural AI.DIVE (Artificial Intelligence Discoveries, Innovations, and Ventures at Emory) Research Showcase Symposium culminated in a festive reception, complete with birthday cake and a panoramic view of the Atlanta skyline.

The day-long AI.DIVE event, designed to showcase center programming, included expert panels and Q&A on topics including AI and democracy, LLM usage in academia and unknown use cases for generative AI. Students presented their experiential learning projects during lunch and at the evening reception.

Serving as a community nexus for Emory’s AI.Humanity initiative, the center has introduced various programs to facilitate AI learning, integration and outreach in its first year.

Some of the center’s first-year initiatives include:

• The Humanity Seminar Series – TED-style talks by AI.Humanity faculty highlighting new research and interdisciplinary perspectives
• Student experiential research programs Xperience and AI.Data Lab, which have provided students hands-on opportunities to learn more about developing and deploying AI, and are set to engage another 130 students this fall
• Co-leading the Atlanta Collegiate Entrepreneurship Syndicate (ACES), a consortium of local colleges partnering with the City of Atlanta to strengthen the technology ecosystem
• A statewide education tour titled “AI + You: Save Time, Earn More and Thrive with AI” which provides free short courses to local communities and empowers Georgians to use AI in their work and daily lives

“I’m so grateful to the center’s staff, our student workers and our many internal and external partners for a phenomenal first year. We have grown tremendously and have more exciting projects in the works to benefit Emory students, faculty and the broader community,” says Joe Sutherland director of the Center for AI Learning.