Innovating the future: ASU's journey into AI

Innovating the future

ASU's journey into AI

Introduction

AI at ASU

Arizona State University harnesses the power of its Knowledge Core – our faculty, researchers, staff and students – to drive AI solutions that enhance teaching, learning, research and digital transformation. This foundation enables ASU to stand at the forefront of AI, propelling the university to develop unique and transformative applications that push the boundaries of what is possible … for today, tomorrow and future generations.

ASU's AI strategy is principled and agile, smartly navigating the universal challenges of high costs and computing limitations with a datainformed, impact-focused approach.

The Principled Innovation® Framework guides our ability to imagine new concepts, catalyze ideas and form new solutions, guided by principles that create positive change for humanity

AIguiding tenets

AI is a powerful technology and will be an enduring part of the innovation landscape for the foreseeable future.

Harnessing the power of AI brings the responsibility to innovate in a principled way, centering our charter and values of inclusion and access.

AI can support human intelligence and capabilities, rather than replace them, to promote equal access to creativity and amplify potential.

We have a responsibility to our community to keep pace with the rapid progression of AI.

This technology must be easily accessible to people from diverse backgrounds, aiming to bridge the accessibility gaps.

AdvancingAI: ASU'sVisionfor Education

“ASU is inspired by the vast teaching, learning and discovery opportunities that augmented intelligence systems are creating within higher education, and by our role in helping to pioneer the responsible evolution of AI education technologies. Our efforts are rooted in our charter: to enhance access, excellence and meaningful societal impact We believe that AI is a catalyst for educational equity, needed innovation, and the strength of the 21st century workforce, and we are excited to explore how AI can advance the comprehensive success of the communities we serve.”

Michael M. Crow President Arizona State University

Partnershipshelp fuelinnovation

Advancing AI in the public sector

In 2023, ASU and Amazon Web Services (AWS) forged a pioneering partnership to create advanced AI applications in the public sector through the Cloud Innovation Center (CIC). This collaboration utilizes AWS's cloud computing technologies like Amazon Sagemaker, Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Code Whisperer to develop AI solutions. Notable projects include a generative AI chatbot for cybersecurity, a resume analyzer, and a medical document query tool.

Settinga precedentfor highereducation

On January 18, 2024, ASU made international headlines as the first university to collaborate with OpenAI, the AI research and deployment company behind ChatGPT.

The collaboration brings the advanced capabilities of ChatGPT Enterprise into higher education, setting a new precedent for how universities enhance learning, advance research and create the future of work.

Writingsmarter, notharder

For over a year, ASU Assistant Professor Jacob Greene has been exploring the impact of generative AI on academic writing practices. Today, Greene is working with graduate students to use ChatGPT Enterprise as part of their coursework.

JacobGreene AssistantProfessor DepartmentofEnglish

“Our interdisciplinary graduate research team will leverage ChatGPT Enterprise to engage in innovative approaches to academic writing, curriculum design and systematic literature reviews,” Greene explained.

Greene’s students – all participants in the AI Innovation Challenge – shared ways they use ChatGPT Enterprise to improve their processes for scholarly writing.

First-year doctoral student Kylie Frontczak explores using ChatGPT to refine her writing process. “I can use the chatbot to provide a feedback loop that allows me to continue to refine and better articulate my writing,” Frontczak noted

Through this work, Greene and his students are navigating the frontiers of AI in humanities research and contributing to the broader discourse on ethical and effective AI use in academia.

AIInnovation Challengeareasof impact

Support teaching and learning

Personalizing and interactive learning at scale.

Projects associated with improving student learning outcomes via generative AI or personalization of student learning or related initiatives to improve student success.

Notable projects in production: AI-enabled “Language Buddy” to support asynchronous language learning environments; FacilitatorBot: Enhancing course delivery with AI-powered faculty support; Echo Fusion: Scalable AI history feedback with a human touch.

Advance research with societal impact

Growing domains for multidisciplinary research.

Projects associated with research, scholarship, and creative projects employing generative AI as a key tool to achieve project goals or develop generative AI.

Notable projects in production: Assessment of ChatGPT for improving coding efficiency for large desert carbon cycle datasets; Evaluation of AI for the development of biologically based models in toxicology; Exploration of AI-human collaborative data labeling practice for research.

Enhance the future of work

Streamlining business and reducing the complexity of scale.

Projects associated with developing the use of generative AI to support the university workforce. This may include activities such as marketing, writing, communications, etc.

Notable projects in production: Enhancing mid-manager leadership development through AI-driven training, RapidResponse GPT; Enhancing incident communications at ASU; Audience-aligned idea generation for social media creative.

Transforming Education through AI Fromideasto implementation

JonathanMcMichael LearningExperienceDesigner IraA FultonSchoolsofEngineering

Jonathan McMichael, Learning and Teaching Hub from Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, was on a mission to revolutionize the way education is approached. Enabled with innovative projects and ChatGPT Enterprise access, he has embarked on a journey to integrate artificial intelligence into the learning process.

Leveraging the collective expertise of learning designers, McMichael aimed to develop generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs) tailored to educational practices. With the ChatGPT Enterprise license providing access to ASU data, the team could finally input crucial information, marking a breakthrough in their endeavors.

“Our goal is to empower faculty in designing courses more effectively,” McMichael expressed. The prototypes in ChatGPT would serve as tools to facilitate meaningful conversations between designers and faculty, enhancing the educational experience.

AIAcceleration

Arizona State University has created the first-of-its-kind AI fusion team dedicated to scaling and transforming higher education.

The AI Acceleration’s team mission is to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to revolutionize the student experience, advance research excellence, and expand ASU's impact on society. Through the lens of Principled Innovation®, we embrace AI not as a replacement for human intelligence but as an amplifier of human creativity and problem-solving to help unlock each learner's full potential.

ElizabethReilley ExecutiveDirector AIAcceleration

"Our goal is to develop AI platforms and products that serve our students and positively impact the communities we serve," says Reilley. " This encompasses technologies that enhance learning, knowledge and overall progress for everyone, along with tools that improve the accessibility, affordability and personalization of higher education."

BetaLand is a generative AI application platform that enables individuals to leverage generative AI through a streamlined and democratized app development process

Priorities

Build enterprise AI platforms

Enterprise Technology is uniquely positioned to build scalable, sustainable AI platforms at ASU, specifically and across all of higher education. The platforms are used by faculty and staff to develop and deploy their own models and AI-enabled products thus exponentially accelerating our knowledge growth and the impact on our students.

Product development

Scaling AI requires a design culture and experimentation mindset. We prototype applications, gather data and refine our approaches incrementally. We develop processes and platforms to enable quick iteration from proof of concepts to beta to production experiences as use cases prove successful at each phase.

ASUAI’splatform features

Privacy and security features

Real-time and rapid-to-scale data

20 large language models (LLMs)

2 vector databases

API

API access for developers

MyAI Builder (upload documents, prompt garden)

Ethical AI Engine

Degree Recommendation Engine

Bringing innovation to students through the ASU AI platform

The ASU AI-powered Degree Recommendation Engine (DRE) empowers students navigating Arizona State University's extensive selection of over 900 degree programs.

Tailored for individuals seeking clarity on the ideal path that aligns with their interests and goals or those looking to streamline their search amidst a vast array of options, DRE simplifies the degree exploration process.

It goes a step further by delivering a customized rationale for each recommendation based on the preferences and criteria shared by the students at the start. This innovative tool is a valuable ally for students at the crossroads of their educational journey, guiding them toward a fulfilling academic future.