Leveraging in the Age of AI: AI Symposium Recap

How can an organization effectively harness the value of artificial intelligence to further their organization and their people? This question was explored by faculty and industry experts during the inaugural Weatherhead School of Management AI Symposium “Leading in the Age of AI”, held on Friday, March 1 at Case Western Reserve University. 

The sold out crowd of more than 200 attendees included people from both industry and academia. Opening keynote Michael J. Jabbour, Chief Innovation Office of Microsoft Education, kicked off the symposium talking about how generative AI is being used to revolutionize education from early childhood through professional level programming. Academic keynote Dr. Tinglong Dai, Bernard T Ferrari Professor, John Hopkins University, spoke about how AI is currently being applied in the medical field, and how it can be scaled in the future. 

Two industry panels explored AI adoption across industry sectors, and discussed the leading edge of the AI frontier. Panels were made up of experts from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, and included speakers from Blackstone Growth, University Hospitals, the Cleveland Guardians, the Cleveland Cavs, KeyBank, Sherwin Williams and more. 

Additionally, there were two faculty panels, one in the morning led by faculty at Weatherhead who are using AI in the classroom with their students, and another in the afternoon moderated by Provost Joy Ward and including faculty experts from across Case Western Reserve University, using AI in areas such as economics, computer science, humanities, and cognitive science. 

Mike Rojas, Chief Innovation Officer of ticketing company AXS, closed the symposium by talking about his experiences creating an anthropomorphic chatbot that was used in the customer relations department. 

The entire event would not have been possible without the support of sponsors - Sherwin Williams, Progressive, DealerTire, Goodyear, and Buckingham. 

Weatherhead plans to continue applying its world class research and scholarship while exploring how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies can be harnessed to positively impact organizations and society.