Key Points
- FSU Vice President and Chief Information Officer Jonathan Fozard joined leaders from New York University, the University of Chicago and Amazon Web Services to discuss the opportunities and challenges of AI in higher education.
- The discussion highlighted FSU's efforts to expand access to AI while protecting university data and improving outcomes for students and researchers.
Florida State University Vice President and Chief Information Officer Jonathan Fozard shared the university’s approach to artificial intelligence with higher education and technology leaders Oct. 19 at a GlobalMindED event at the United Nations in New York City.
Fozard participated in “From Classrooms to Labs: How Universities Are Connecting (and Constraining) AI,” a higher education panel focused on the opportunities and challenges institutions face as they move beyond experimenting with artificial intelligence to using it across classrooms, research and university operations.
He joined Jennifer Sparrow, chief academic technology officer at New York University; William H.J. Hubbard, professor of law and chair of the Law School AI Committee at the University of Chicago; and Chris Ott, head of AWS Academy at Amazon Web Services. Jay Nappy of AWS moderated the discussion.
During his remarks, Fozard stressed that a central issue facing education is no longer whether institutions will provide access to artificial intelligence, but how they will turn that access into meaningful outcomes.
“One of my biggest takeaways from the discussions is that the challenge ahead is no longer simply providing access to AI around the world,” Fozard said. “It is how we connect people, technology, research, teaching, governance, data protection and opportunity in ways that allow institutions to move beyond experimentation and create meaningful impact at scale.”
During the discussion, Fozard described FSU’s efforts to make secure, university-supported AI tools widely available to students, faculty and staff.
“As AI adoption accelerated, FSU recognized that access and experimentation could not be concentrated only in technology-intensive disciplines such as computer science and engineering,” Fozard said. “Students and faculty in the arts, humanities, business, health, education and other fields also need opportunities to understand how emerging technologies may shape their disciplines and future professions.”
“The goal is not to have artificial intelligence do the work for students or replace instruction, but to use technology to create additional opportunities for students to engage with their work, respond to feedback and strengthen their understanding.”
– Vice President and Chief Information Officer Jonathan Fozard
That philosophy has helped guide FSU’s development of AI resources that support students, faculty and staff while allowing the university to evaluate multiple platforms rather than relying on a single form of technology.
At the same time, Fozard emphasized that strong safeguards must accompany access.
“FSU evaluates AI platforms not only for their capabilities but also for how vendors protect intellectual property, institutional information and student data,” he said. “Those considerations become particularly important for a university whose responsibilities extend from higher education and research to K-12 environments.”
Fozard also stressed that artificial intelligence should support faculty and staff, not replace human relationships at the heart of education.
“Students continue to value interaction with faculty, mentorship and the ability to learn from people with deep experience in their fields,” Fozard said.
FSU’s focus, he said, is on identifying ways AI can give faculty new tools and provide students with more opportunities to learn, practice and improve.
One example discussed during the event involved an AI-supported tool that allows students to receive feedback on an assignment, revise their work and learn from that feedback before submitting it to their instructor for a final grade. Early results from a pilot study showed about 20% better performance among students who used the tool compared with those who chose not to use it.
“The goal is not to have artificial intelligence do the work for students or replace instruction, but to use technology to create additional opportunities for students to engage with their work, respond to feedback and strengthen their understanding,” he said.
Fozard also highlighted how AI and advanced computing are supporting FSU’s research mission.
Fozard pointed to FSU’s work in pediatric rare diseases, which combines whole-genome sequencing, advanced computing, data-driven research and emerging AI capabilities to help accelerate diagnosis, discovery and the search for new treatments.
Fozard discussed FSU’s efforts to give students hands-on technology experience before they enter the workforce.
“FSU’s technology internship initiatives combine practical technical experience with communication, teamwork, leadership and other professional skills students will need throughout their careers,” he said.
The GlobalMindED event brought together leaders from higher education, business, technology and other sectors to examine how organizations can respond to rapid technological and societal change.
“There is something powerful about discussing the future of education, technology and AI in a place built around bringing people from across the world together to tackle complex challenges,” Fozard said.
For more information about artificial intelligence at Florida State University, visit ai.fsu.edu.