The 2023 Senate Plenary, with the theme, “Unsettled: Frames for Examining Generative Artificial Intelligence,” will take place from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 4 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room.
“Large language models and generative artificial intelligence have growing potential to change many aspects of our lives in higher education, including how we interact with information, teaching and research,” Senate President Robin Kear said at the March 15 Faculty Assembly meeting.
“The late 2022 pop-culture splash of ChatGPT awakened many of us to the existing permeation of these kinds of artificial intelligence into our lives and jolted us to the exciting and unsettling aspects of this AI for our future.
“So how do we take a step back and do what we do best as a University? We examine the impact through our disciplinary expertise and experience, and then we imagine and influence the future,” she added.
“This year’s Senate Plenary brings together seven Pitt experts in wide-ranging areas: from philosophy of science, art, engineering, computing and information, language, English, and law to present and discuss what comes next. Each panelist will have eight minutes to discuss what they think is most important and what is most relevant from their field and for our University.”
The panelists include:
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Colin Allen: distinguished professor of philosophy of science
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Morgan Frank: assistant professor, School of Computing and Information
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Na-Rae Han: linguistics teaching professor
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Alison Langmead: clinical professor, History of Art & Architecture, director of Visual Media Workshop
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Michael Madison: professor of law and John E. Murray faculty scholar
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Annette Vee: associate professor of English and director of Pitt’s Composition Program
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Joseph Yun: artificial intelligence architect, Electrical and Computer Engineering
The event also will include remarks by Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and Provost Ann Cudd.
The plenary is open to the entire Pitt community and includes lunch. “We do want to start right at noon because we have a full slate of people,” Kear said, adding the event will be live streamed and a recording made available for viewing afterward.
— Shannon Wells
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