As the 2023-24 academic year begins, Good Systems Executive Team members and close collaborators share their thoughts on the most exciting developments in AI for social good as well as the most pressing ethical concerns facing society today.

The election of Professor Sherri Greenberg to chair of Good Systems couldn’t be more timely. UT Austin’s ethical AI grand challenge is ready to start shaping and informing public policy at the intersection of technology and society. And there are few as well equipped as Greenberg to lead this initiative.

Boston Dynamics is known for its viral videos where its autonomous robots dance, tackle obstacle courses or decorate for the holidays. There are even blooper reels that show how much work is required to make the robots perform even the simplest of tasks.

Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, artificial intelligence, or AI, usage has skyrocketed. As a new academic year rapidly approaches for The University of Texas at Austin, faculty are working to balance fostering a learning environment with AI while preventing cheating among college students.

The Department of Computer Science and the Good Systems program present a one semester-credit-hour course titled “Essentials of AI for Life and Society.”

Led by School of Information professor Yan Zhang, a team of graduate students developed a prototype for an updated version of WCWH's Hornsense app in just 14 weeks.

Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin found that while majority-Black neighborhoods in Houston made up 14% of the area surveyed, those communities experienced 35% more pedestrian crashes than non-Black neighborhoods.

There is a direct line between under-investment in Black neighborhoods and the rising number of pedestrian crashes in those communities, Texas researchers found using Houston stats.

Professor Sharon Strover of The University of Texas at Austin talks with Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau about AI's implications for humans--what are the risks (both accidental and intentional), why is it hard to address some of them, and what UT's Good Systems program is doing to help! Sharon and Jay cover a wide range of related topics as they discuss the risks and benefits of AI for humans and the need to learn how to co-exist in ways that benefit all.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a science and a set of computational technologies that are inspired by — but typically operate quite differently from — the ways people use their nervous systems and bodies to sense, learn, reason, and take action.”