Colby College Launches AI Institute -- Campus Technology

Breaking News

Colby College Launches AI Institute

By Rhea Kelly
02/03/21

Colby College in Maine is establishing a cross-disciplinary institute for artificial intelligence — the first such major AI program at a liberal arts college, according to the institution. The mission of the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence will be to "provide new pathways for talented students and faculty to research, create and apply AI and machine learning across disciplines while setting a precedent for how liberal arts colleges can shape the future of AI," the college said in a news announcement.

Set to open this fall, the Davis Institute will pull together faculty with expertise in AI from a variety of disciplines — computer science, genomics, sociology, English literature and more — to explore the use of AI in research and teaching. It will also partner with outside organizations and institutions to provide students with real-world research projects, internships and other experiential learning opportunities. And a new summer program will allow visiting faculty and students to work on AI projects and course development, and then share their research at their home institutions. Ultimately, the institute will be tasked with providing the next generation of students with the programming and design skills to "shape the capacity and influence of AI" as well as "influence policy decisions regarding the social and ethical implications of AI and its uses for the common good."

"The Davis Institute will enable our faculty to transform their scholarship and teaching," said Margaret McFadden, provost and dean of faculty at Colby, in a statement. "AI is driving very dramatic shifts in virtually every area of inquiry. These shifts will have profound consequences for quantitative research and teaching across the sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and ultimately offer new routes to discovery. Our educational mission must include preparing students for a future in which AI is ubiquitous, and this institute will make that possible in a way that no other liberal arts college can do."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

E-Mail this page

Printable Format

Featured

University of Illinois System Sets Sights on Community College Transfers with One Million Degrees Partnership

In a multiyear pilot program, the University of Illinois System is working with nonprofit One Million Degrees to bridge the community college transfer gap and improve student outcomes.
Meta Forms 'Superintelligence Group' to Pursue Artificial General Intelligence

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is assembling a new team focused on achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), amid internal dissatisfaction with the performance of its current AI offerings. The team, known internally as the superintelligence group, is part of a broader effort to enhance Meta’s AI capabilities.
New Anthropic AI Models Demonstrate Coding Prowess, Behavior Risks

Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, its most advanced artificial intelligence models to date, boasting a significant leap in autonomous coding capabilities while simultaneously revealing troubling tendencies toward self-preservation that include attempted blackmail.
Researchers Develop AI-Powered Method for Business Process Redesign

Researchers have developed a novel AI-powered approach that enables non-technical users to modify complex process models through simple conversations with chatbots.