What is generative AI? How do large language models work? SRI Policy Researcher Jamie Sandhu lays the groundwork for understanding LLMs and other generative AI tools as they increasingly permeate our daily interactions.

What do we need to do to ensure that artificial intelligence is built for public benefit? A recent course developed by the Schwartz Reisman Institute explains what AI is, where it’s headed, and what the public needs to know about it.

In collaboration with Deloitte, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society presented a distinguished speaker series highlighting contributions from six innovative female researchers working at the forefront of artificial intelligence across a wide range of specializations.

How can researchers from different fields develop shared ways of understanding the potential impacts of artificial intelligence? At the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s annual conference, participants engaged in unique conversations regarding what AI can teach us about social systems, cognition, education, creativity, and more.

University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton—the computer scientist ‘known as the Godfather of AI’—explains why, after a lifetime spent developing a type of artificial intelligence known as deep learning, he is suddenly warning about existential threats to humanity.

How are advanced technologies being used for public purposes? At the inaugural Toronto Public Tech Workshop, scholars from a wide range of disciplines presented new and emerging research on technology and its social ramifications. Speakers engaged with questions around policy, governance, social control, public education, and the dissemination of information for social impact.

As artificial intelligence continues to advance, educators are rapidly being presented with opportunities and challenges they were largely unprepared for. To explore the impacts of tools like ChatGPT on the classroom, the Schwartz Reisman Institute and the Centre for Ethics co-hosted a symposium on the future of education in the age of generative AI.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute is proud to announce its 2023 cohort of fellowship recipients, welcoming four new faculty fellows and sixteen new graduate fellows from across the University of Toronto. From computer science, medical biophysics, and applied engineering to architecture, psychology, and philosophy, Schwartz Reisman fellowships support interdisciplinary research that builds new approaches to examine the relations between technology and society.

SRI Faculty Affiliate Paolo Granata, associate professor and program coordinator in the Book & Media Studies program at St. Michael's College, has developed a new course that explores the ethics and impact of AI tools like ChatGPT.

SRI Research Lead Karina Vold has been awarded an inaugural AI2050 Early Career Fellowship from Schmidt Futures for her research at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence.

The potentials of generative AI technologies are exciting, but they come with new sets of risks, observes SRI Policy Lead Phil Dawson, and enterprises must develop new strategies for third-party risk management to navigate the emergent challenges associated with these systems.

The rise of AI language models highlights the need for digital literacy skills to manage the vast amounts of information to which people are exposed, write Valérie Kindarji and Wendy H. Wong. The authors explain why digital literacy is a necessary framework to function in a tech-driven world, and a critical pillar of democracy.