Smith Business magazine, Summer 2024 - Magazine - Page 27
AI Use and Regulation
“I strongly believe we need to have
a progressive mindset and embrace
the change,” she says. “During these
classes, I hope to gain insights on AI
and transfer that knowledge to my
colleagues in the workplace.”
Smith’s specialized master’s
programs also incorporate training
with AI systems for data analytics.
Master’s program graduates leave
Smith knowing how things like large
language models work and how to
build applications on top of them.
For example, Professor of the Practice
Clifford Rossi’s quantitative 昀椀nance
master’s students built the Mortgage
Climate Risk Analyzer. This interactive
dashboard calculates mortgage
vulnerability to physical risks caused
by climate disasters. They developed it
from an experiential learning project
with government-sponsored mortgage
enterprise Freddie Mac.
At the undergraduate level, Rust
is leading a cluster of four courses
in the University Honors Program
that explore the importance of
interpersonal skills in the AI
revolution, how politics will manage
deep fakes and algorithmic bias, and
whether intelligence needs to be
human to support life.
The goal, Konana says, is to weave
AI learning throughout all programs so
Smith graduates enter the workplace
knowing how to use the technology
to create value.
“That’s how our pedagogy has to
evolve—to teach students creative
problem-solving using AI,” he says.
Professor Kislaya Prasad
at Smith’s Center for Global
Business recently surveyed
U.S. companies about how
AI is affecting business. Here
are some of the findings from
the nearly 900 executives and
managers who participated:
+70%
of respondents support
government regulation of AI
~60%
support export restrictions on
cutting-edge AI technologies
AI technology respondents say
their companies are using:
39%
30%
generative AI
computer vision
27%
machine learning
I strongly believe we need to
have a progressive mindset
and embrace the change.
During these classes, I hope
to gain insights on AI and
transfer that knowledge to my
colleagues in the workplace.
Reasons why companies
are using AI:
66%
to enhance the
customer experience
72%
to increase operations
efficiency
54%
to improve employee
efficiency
Elena Maican, MBA ’24
rhsmith-editor@umd.edu
SMITH BUSINESS
Photo provided by Elena Maican
/
25