Author: Susan Castro

The rAI colloquium will host John Jones for a presentation on “In Our Own Image: Visions of AI in Science Fiction” at noon Friday, Sept. 18 in 528 Lindquist Hall or virtually via Microsoft Teams.

When imagining artificial intelligence, people imagine the machines of science fiction — and more often than not, imagine them turning on humans. This talk surveys a century of AI in fiction and asks why the stories remembered are so often the ones where it does. What’s found says less about the machines than about humanity.

Join the colloquium after the rAI planning meeting. Sponsored by Responsible AI@ICT.

All WSU undergraduate students are invited to join the WSU Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl team this year.

The APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is a collaborative experience for undergraduate students from all majors who want to develop insight into complex ethical issues, learn to communicate clearly and concisely, and build teamwork skills. Participants meet weekly to discuss the case set, practice asking good questions, anticipate opposing positions and develop nuance in their thinking. Teams that compete are judged on the depth and clarity of their thought in a non-adversarial setting.

Students are welcome to attend the meetings to discuss cases even if they don’t want to compete. Ideal for students who want to develop understanding and connect with peers.

• Meetings are from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2-Nov. 4.
• The Rocky Mountain Regional competition will be held Nov. 7.

Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy. Contact susan.castro@wichita.edu to inquire or join.

Join Responsible AI@ICT for a fun peer-mentoring session to share your favorite AI use cases, both successes and failures, in this open forum at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24 in 528C Lindquist Hall and via Microsoft Teams on how AI is being used at WSU. 

Whether the work is operations, teaching or scholarship, help your peers learn from your experience and get some good tips for saving you time – even if the lesson is just not to waste your time using AI on that task. There will also be snacks.

The APPE Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is a collaborative experience for undergraduate students from all majors who want to develop insight into complex ethical issues, communicate clearly and concisely, and build teamwork skills.

Participants meet weekly to discuss the case set. Teams who compete are judged on the depth and clarity of their thought in a non-adversarial setting. Students are welcome to attend the meetings to discuss cases even if they don’t want to compete. The first meeting is at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18 in 017 Fiske Hall, Katherine Bradfield Student Lounge. This event is ideal for students who want to understand and connect with peers.

Faculty, staff and graduate students who have experience or interest in coaching are invited to participate, too. Contact Susan Castro at susan.castro@wichita.edu for more information.

Some AI workshops show you how to produce things like cleaner emails or faster summaries. In this one, participants will use AI for an unexpected job: helping you spot the small, repetitive tasks you do so automatically you’ve stopped noticing them and then build a fix for each one. The surprise is that many don’t need AI at all; a scheduled reminder or a simple rule often does the job better and is safer.

In this hands-on session, “Spotting and Automating the Work that Eats Your Week” with Rachel Bastian at 2 p.m. Friday, July 17 in 261 Rhatigan Student Center, Olive Room, you’ll audit your own work, look at what’s worth automating and leave the workshop having put at least one fix in place (a rule, a template or an automation), plus a way to tell whether it actually saved you time.

Participants will need a computer and Copilot (ChatGPT or Claude are welcomed if preferred). Additionally, some actions will be demonstrated in Microsoft 365 apps, so participants will need to sign with their WSU credentials to try it themselves.

Sponsored by Responsible AI@ICT (wichita.edu/rai) and the Office of Instructional Resources (wichita.edu/oir). Join the team for the rAI after party at 4 p.m. at Social Tap Drinkery in Braeburn Square.

Friends and foes of AI are welcome to chat with humans in conviviality at 4 p.m. Thursday, June 18 at Social Tap Drinkery at Braeburn Square. Share what’s new with you and your relationships with AI, make new friends and take a moment to relax before the Juneteenth celebrations commence. What’s on your mind this week?

Sponsored by Responsible AI@ICT (wichita.edu/rAI).

Responsible AI@ICT is a working group at Wichita State that brings together researchers from all disciplines to collaborate in intelligently shaping the future in this new era of AI, through translational research that takes special care with respect to how AI is developed and integrated into our world.

HealthHum and friends are invited to join an end of the year happy hour from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5 at Social Tap Drinkery. Share your stories and make some plans.

Sponsored by The Academic Center for Biomedical and Health Humanities.

The Faculty Chair Policy Review Task Force is hosting an open discussion at 2 p.m. Monday, April 27 in 110B Woolsey Hall, Frank A. Boettger Auditorium and on Microsoft Teams. They will share a complete draft of the proposal for faculty to review and consider. After this opportunity for general faculty review, discussion and improvement, sections of the draft will be rolled out in Faculty Senate this fall.

Charge of the committee:

• Review and recommend updates to WSU 4.13 / Chair Policy and Procedures to better articulate our shared vision of the role of the chair, clarify procedures to improve usability, and empower fair participation by all faculty in department elections, collaborative leadership and career development, and strategic planning for the future of the department.
• Advance recommended language changes to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for consideration by the Faculty Senate and the General Faculty according to WSU procedures.

Curious how AI is transforming real workplaces beyond crafting polished emails and presentations? Join this interactive workshop to explore real-world examples and reimagine everyday workflows through hands-on exercises. Attendants will gain practical skills that are quickly becoming essential and leave with a renewed curiosity to make the most of today’s AI tools.

“Reconstructing Workflows with AI and Automations” with Troy Tabor will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25 in RSC’s Lucas Room (room 265).

For the full experience, participants will need an account with both ChatGPT and Claude. To install the desktop apps for both. The lowest-priced subscription for Claude is fine, and ChatGPT is free.

Sponsored by Responsible AI@ICT (rAI), formerly the WSU AI Interest Group.  For more information, visit wichita.edu/rAI.

Join Responsible AI@ICT (rAI), formerly the AI Interest Group, at the launch of a new event series of AI Forums and Workshops from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9 in 261 Rhatigan Student Center, Olive Room.

The upcoming forum, titled “Building Ethical, Human-Centered AI at WSU: A Think Tank Session on Mitigating Potential Downstream Negative Impacts of Chatbots on Faculty, Student, and Campus Relationships,” will be presented by Dr. Justin Keeler, director of the Business Analytics Graduate Program and clinical associate professor of finance, real estate and decision sciences.

Based on his recent paper, “Chatbots and human-human relationships: the need for research on potential downstream harms from generative AI,” Keeler will highlight potential consequences and offer ideation solutions on how to navigate during this era, then lead think-tank session about implications for WSU.