Florida State University brought its approach to artificial intelligence in teaching and learning to national higher education conversations this summer, including back-to-back gatherings at Google’s North American headquarters in New York City.

Paul Marty, professor in the School of Information within the College of Communication and Information and associate vice provost for Academic Innovation, represented FSU at Google’s gatherings as well as leadership workshops with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

“When other public universities look at what FSU is accomplishing — from our data-driven campus culture to our deeply engaged faculty, staff and students — they see a path forward,” Marty said. “We are proving that a top public research university can lead the nation in adopting disruptive innovations while keeping student learning and the public good at the center of everything we do.”

FSU is part of Google’s AI for Education Accelerator program and a Gemini for Education partner. The accelerator provides students and educators with AI tools designed to support productivity, personalized learning and prepare students for a technology-driven workforce.

Students can use Gemini for Education to support inquiry-based learning, brainstorm projects and explore complex concepts in a university-managed environment.

Marty spent a week at Google’s facility at St. John’s Terminal headquarters, participating in two AI gatherings focused on Gemini and the future of higher education: the Google GSV Higher Ed Leader Fellowship and the Google Higher Ed Leader Series Conference.

Marty is a member of the 2026 cohort of Google GSV Higher Ed Leader Fellows, a group of 30 academic leaders selected from across North America. The fellows meet monthly to examine how AI is reshaping postsecondary education and met recently in New York for a two-day summit.

“We may be there ostensibly to talk about AI in higher education, but what we’re really talking about is the future of higher education,” said Marty. “Generative AI is prompting us to really buckle down and answer core questions about the value proposition of higher ed — for example, how can we move away from transactional relationships and reposition higher education as a public good where students engage in meaningful, transformative learning experiences.”

Following the fellowship, Marty attended Google’s annual Higher Ed Leader Series Conference, which brings together university presidents, provosts and chancellors to discuss AI integration and higher education strategy.

During the Higher Ed Leader Series, Google showcased a feature video about how Florida State University faculty and students are integrating Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) into coursework. Filmed on FSU’s Tallahassee campus, it features Chief Information Officer Jonathan Fozard and examples of AI use across disciplines.

During the conference, Marty demonstrated an FSU classroom notebook for higher education leaders, featuring a custom thermodynamics notebook created by Ralm Ricarte, an assistant professor of chemical engineering in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. Ricarte built the notebook with lecture notes, course materials and problem sets from his Introduction to Thermodynamics course, giving students an AI study tool grounded in materials from the class.

“When it comes to AI in education, it’s important to remember that the person who does the work does the learning,” Marty noted. “If all a student does is copy and paste, they aren’t learning. But when used properly, these tools can act like an extremely well-read digital assistant available 24/7. As educators, we can show students how to harness that capability ethically to become better learners.”

Gemini Notebook restricts its answers strictly to user-uploaded sources, providing precise citations for every response. Students can use course materials to create study guides, practice quizzes, video overviews and audio overviews. FSU faculty and academic support staff have found that these kinds of interactive learning tools help boost classroom participation.

FSU’s Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) Learning Studio also hosts regular workshops that teach students how to use AI tools responsibly and effectively as part of their learning.

“FSU’s Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) helps students integrate innovative AI tools into their weekly study and test preparation routines while maintaining responsible and ethical learning strategies,” said ACE Director Holly Hunt. “Through our ‘Using AI Tools to Help You Study’ workshops and Gemini Notebook drop-in hours, Study Skills Tutors and STEM Student Specialists aid students in synthesizing course content, building personalized study guides and organizing class materials. Our goal is to teach students how to incorporate foundational learning strategies with FSU-supported AI tools to reach academic success.”

For more information about AI at FSU, visit ai.fsu.edu. To learn more about the services available for FSU faculty, staff and students, visit its.fsu.edu.

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Pellumb Reshidi, an assistant economics professor in Florida State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, has been named a Senior Fellow of Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute (AIEI), joining an international cohort of researchers studying how artificial intelligence is transforming firms and the future of work.

As part of the fellowship, Reshidi and collaborators Brian Jabarian of Carnegie Mellon University and Luca Henkel of Erasmus University Rotterdam received a Microsoft research grant to investigate the growing use of AI in hiring and recruitment. Their project focuses on agentic hiring, or the use of artificial intelligence to screen, interview and evaluate job candidates.

The research comes as organizations increasingly adopt AI tools in the workplace. While many companies have embraced the technology, questions remain about its effects on workers, employers and labor markets.

“Adoption has moved faster than the evidence, particularly on what happens when an entire industry takes up these systems rather than a single firm, and how the added competition affects firm and worker welfare,” Reshidi said. “Those effects need careful measurement, and we’re approaching them less as a question of AI substituting for people than as one about where the two together outperform either alone.”

Working with a major recruiting firm, the team has conducted a natural field experiment covering roughly 70,000 interviews, producing a dataset that tracks both recruiters and candidates from application through employment and beyond.

The evidence speaks to the interactions between human recruiters and AI systems, to how screening changes when applicants can choose between a human and an AI interviewer, and to how employers compete when they rely on similar AI screeners.

This is AIEI’s third cohort and the first to turn to firms themselves; the previous two examined how education systems prepare people for an AI-enabled economy.

The cohort’s findings will be collected in an edited volume scheduled for publication in January, with Reshidi’s team contributing a chapter and submitting its research to an open-access academic journal.

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Florida State University students, faculty and staff are getting an in-depth lesson on artificial intelligence and its applications in research, courtesy of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, part of the College of Arts and Sciences.  

The 2026 AI Bootcamp series kicked off Aug. 6 on campus and runs through Oct. 9. 

The free educational series, organized by Cottrell Family Professor of Chemistry Oliver Steinbock and Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Wen Zhu, features guest lecturers, interactive workshops, panel discussions and guided debates. The bootcamp programming covers a comprehensive range of topics throughout the fall, from agentic AI and data analysis with large language models, to mental health considerations and career planning in the AI landscape.  

The series, which takes place in the Kroto Auditorium at FSU’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory, has drawn in faculty, staff and graduate and undergraduate students from departments across campus who are interested in diving deeper into the unique challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, in the research laboratory, the classroom and beyond. 

Featured speakers for the series include experts from FSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Interdisciplinary Data Science Master’s Degree Program, Department of Scientific Computing, Department of Computer Science, FSU Libraries, Information Technology Services and the School of Information in the College of Communication and Information. Visiting speakers include guests and returning FSU alumni from Emory University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Florida, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Google X and AI-driven platform Synfini. 

To view the complete AI Bootcamp program or register for the series, visit the bootcamp website.

For more information on events at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, visit chem.fsu.edu. 

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Children learning their “ABCs” or high school students studying the periodic table can turn to songs to help remember foundational educational concepts. A Florida State University professor is applying the method to chemistry class, using artificial intelligence to create new musical learning aids that help students succeed.

Oliver Steinbock, Cottrell Family Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, has previously used AI in his laboratory research to identify chemical compositions of dried salts from images. He is now exploring educational endeavors with the technology through AI-generated songs that explain core chemistry concepts, like thermodynamics and compression, and break down dense equations such as the van der Waals equation.

“I created these chemistry songs as a resource to teach concepts in a different way and create some new interest in the subject matter,” Steinbock said. “These songs can be used by students as at-home study tools, or lecturers could ask students to make their own songs about a topic as an in-class activity and have the students fact-check their songs. It’s just one tool in the toolbox of teaching.”

Steinbock’s 16-song playlist focuses on thermodynamics — the branch of physical chemistry covering interactions among heat, work, temperature and energy — and is available on Suno, a generative AI platform that creates songs based on user prompts. Through different musical genres, Steinbock’s songs teach the laws of thermodynamics, the essential rules of nature that define how energy operates in the universe, which are key foundations for physics and chemistry research.

“Physical chemistry is known as one of the hardest chemistry subjects to learn,” said Wei Yang, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a professor of biochemistry. “Many students have a love-hate relationship with thermodynamics due to many key equations and concepts that they must comprehend and memorize.”

In addition to serving as mnemonic devices that aid memorization through rhythm and repetition, learning songs helps students of all levels feel more comfortable in the classroom and reduce anxiety, according to research from the University of Washington published by the American Society for Cell Biology.

“These songs can have huge benefits for students with different learning styles, especially those who want to reinforce key concepts in their free time,” said Andrew Fredericks, a student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and an undergraduate researcher in Steinbock’s laboratory. “Many people are curious — and maybe a little nervous — about how AI will continue to impact education and society, but it’s exciting to see technology being used in creative ways to help students learn.”

The country-inspired song “Temperature” helps students understand how temperature is affected by the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, while the K-pop inspired song “Z One” teaches the ideal gas law by describing the relationship among pressure, volume, temperature and amount of a substance in a gas.

To develop these songs, Steinbock input sections of his own research papers into large-language models like ChatGPT and Claude and turned the text into lyrics. He then checked the lyrics for factual errors and adjusted prompts as needed before putting the final lyrics and choice of musical genre into Suno. The result was a series of short, catchy songs highlighting core concepts that students sometimes struggle to learn through traditional lectures and reading.

“This project is a really cool example of how AI can be used in education,” Fredericks said. “By combining the chemistry content with music, the songs make the material feel more approachable and enjoyable.”

Steinbock hopes his students use these songs as an additional learning aid to support their studies while highlighting the importance of ethical and responsible AI use.

“In a project like this, I had to check the facts while also considering how much freedom the AI can take to stretch the concepts or mix in cheesy words,” Steinbock said. “AI has the potential to be a useful learning tool, but it still makes mistakes. We must learn to use it safely and constructively.”

Visit the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry website to learn more about Steinbock’s work and research in the department.

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Florida State University alumni are using artificial intelligence to help make legislation easier to understand.

Their startup, Delilah, is an AI-powered platform that summarizes complex bills and allows users to ask questions about proposed laws through a conversational interface.  Founded by recent FSU graduates with experience in government and public policy, the company has gained national attention, reaching the Top 100 on the App Store.

Delilah, short for Dashboard for Economic and Legislative Insights with Live Analytics and History, grew out of founder Joseph Visconti’s experience as a gubernatorial fellow at the Florida Capitol.

Working closely with legislation, he saw firsthand how difficult it can be for citizens to navigate bills that can span hundreds of pages.

“We have these really long bills that do important things, but they’re extremely hard to read and understand,” Visconti said. “We wanted to make these bills accessible and comprehensible for people who aren’t working in government.”

Delilah allows users to ask questions about federal, state and local legislation, receive summaries and access links to the original bill text. The team says the platform is designed to help users research public policy without specialized legal or legislative expertise.

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The model combines real-time and historical data to predict outbreaks and protect public health

Every summer, beach closures disrupt families, harm local businesses and raise public health alarms. Most of the time, the warning comes after it is already too late.

A new artificial intelligence framework developed at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering aims to change that by alerting water managers to E. coli contamination risk before anyone falls sick.

Researchers led by Assistant Professor Nasrin Alamdari developed an AI-powered predictive modeling framework that uses environmental and hydrometeorological data to provide early warnings of Escherichia coli (E. coli) contamination in recreational waterways, giving communities a window to act before health risks emerge.

Their model, which was published in Water Research, identified unsafe conditions with approximately 85% accuracy, demonstrating its potential to offer earlier warnings before levels reach unsafe thresholds.

“Beach closures often occur because we detect contamination after water conditions have already become unsafe,” said Alamdari, a researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response (RIDER) Center. “Our goal is to move from a reactive approach to a predictive one, leveraging continuous environmental data, including rainfall, river flow, turbidity, temperature and upstream conditions, to estimate E. coli levels in near real time and up to a day in advance.”

How it works

Traditional water quality monitoring relies on manual sampling followed by laboratory analysis, a process that takes 18 to 24 hours to yield results. By the time a beach or river is closed, swimmers may have already been exposed to dangerous levels of contamination.

The framework developed by researchers uses current and historical environmental data to estimate contamination risk without waiting for lab results. Inputs include upstream hydrologic conditions, streamflow rates, rainfall totals, turbidity readings and water temperature. By combining these variables, the model can flag elevated E. coli risk with 24 hours advance warning.

A 2023 sewage spill that occurred after a malfunction at the Big Creek Water Reclamation Facility illustrates exactly the kind of scenario the model is built to address.

“The 2023 Big Creek sewage spill is an example of how a sudden treatment failure can rapidly contaminate downstream recreational waters,” said Ali Salou Moumouni, a graduate researcher on the project. “Our predictive models use current and past environmental and hydrometeorological data to estimate contamination risk before lab results arrive. By factoring in upstream hydrologic conditions, our model provides earlier warnings and more targeted monitoring, improving preparedness during sudden contamination events.”

Why it matters: Human health impacts and economic costs

E. coli contamination in recreational waterways can infect people swimming there, causing gastrointestinal distress, nausea or fatigue. Vulnerable populations, such as the very young or old, are at greater risk.

The consequences of delayed contamination alerts extend beyond public health. When closures happen unexpectedly, hotels, outfitters and water recreation businesses lose revenue with little warning. Municipalities absorb higher costs from emergency public notifications and increased health incident response.

“Delays expose the public to greater health risks and increase medical expenses from waterborne illness,” Alamdari said. “Local economies that depend on recreation and tourism suffer revenue losses when visitors cancel trips or avoid affected areas, while municipalities incur higher operational costs for water testing and emergency response. Repeated advisories can also erode public trust, leading to longer-term declines in visitation and further economic loss.”

Proactive alerts, by contrast, give businesses and government agencies advance notice, reduce unnecessary closures and help communities protect both public health and economic stability. By shifting from reactive to predictive monitoring, communities can better protect public health while reducing unnecessary closures and improving economic resilience.

Risk factors

The study also documents how land use changes intensify contamination. Between 2007 and 2023, urbanization in the study area increased impervious cover from 24% to 28%, altering runoff pathways, leading to more polluted runoff and higher and more variable E. coli levels in streams.

As precipitation patterns grow less predictable, even moderate rainfall events carry elevated contamination risk in urbanized watersheds. The model accounts for rainfall history, streamflow and watershed wetness indicators to improve prediction during those in-between conditions that traditional models often miss.

“Our findings show that every development decision influences water quality and public health, highlighting the need for green infrastructure,” said Imtiaz Syed Usama, a graduate researcher on the team.

Storms compound the problem. E. coli levels can spike within hours of heavy rainfall, but traditional lab testing is too slow to catch those surges before people enter the water.

“Our model flips the script: by combining rainfall, streamflow, turbidity and other hydrometeorological data, it helps predict E. coli risk in near real time and up to a day ahead, including during extreme weather,” said Nasr Azadani Mitra, a graduate researcher at RIDER. “Communities without routine lab testing can still issue early warnings and protect public health.”

This research was supported by grants from Florida State University.

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As the global film industry descends on the 79th Cannes Film Festival beginning May 12, it does so at a pivotal moment: Cinema is redefining who, or what, gets to be considered a creator.  

The rise of generative AI has ignited one of the most consequential debates the industry has faced since the transition from film to digital: Is storytelling still a fundamentally human act?  

The festival recently ruled that any film where generative AI serves as the “principal authoring tool” is ineligible for the Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded to the director of the best feature film at Cannes. This includes AI-driven scripts, visual generation and principal performance synthesis.   

Jason Maurer, Head of Animation at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts, is exploring how AI can be used ethically in creative spaces, with a strong focus on storytelling, filmmaking and animation production pipelines.   

One of his guiding principles for navigating AI and filmmaking is Wharton Associate Professor Ethan Mollick’s four basic rules: Be the human in the loop, invite AI to the table, treat AI like a person and assume this is the worst AI you’ll ever use. Maurer believes that Cannes’ push toward human-centric filmmaking is less a rejection of technology than a defense of authorship.  

“AI is a collaborator, not a creator,” Maurer said. “The ethics around how it’s built are non-negotiable, and the real threat isn’t the tool — it’s the humans wielding it without accountability.”   

Jason Maurer is available to speak with media on these angles that intersect AI and the film industry. He can be reached via email at jmaurer@fsu.edu.   

• Authorship and accountability still belong to humans: AI can speed up production, but it can’t take responsibility for a story. The real debate isn’t about banning AI — it’s about keeping humans accountable for what ends up on screen. 

• Audience trust will hinge on transparency, not technology: Viewers are open to AI-assisted films if the story resonates, but they want honesty about how it was made. The industry’s challenge isn’t AI itself — it’s clearly labeling and owning the creative process. 

• AI is expanding access while raising real ethical risks: The technology is lowering costs and giving indie filmmakers new creative power, but many tools are built on legally and ethically uncertain foundations. The opportunity is huge, but how the industry addresses those risks will define its future. 

Jason Maurer, Head of Animation, FSU College of Motion Picture Arts 

To the average film viewer, much of the AI-generated content might be indistinguishable to actual human content. Are these human-centric stances like what Cannes is doing good for the industry, or are we at a point where we’ve lost the audience’s trust for what is real on the screen? 

Whether it’s good for the industry depends on what we mean by “human centric.” If the standard is that a human directed the work, made the choices and bears the artistic responsibility, then a filmmaker using an ethically sourced AI tool is still making a human-centric film. The human is still in the loop — to borrow Ethan Mollick’s framing, which I apply to my own creative process. We didn’t stop telling stories around the campfire when the printing press arrived. Portrait painting didn’t disappear because of the photograph. Tools change. Authorship doesn’t.  

The animation industry has already lived through this. When CG arrived, the field declared 2D dead — and it nearly was, commercially, in the U.S. for most of the 2000s. Hundreds of traditional animators lost careers in that transition. We should be honest about that. But 2D didn’t die. It evolved, and the medium today is richer for having both languages available. 

Proponents of human-centric cinema endorse its authentic storytelling as one of the standards of film. While generative AI can perhaps maximize efficiencies in film, what makes the human element more important? 

The reframe I’d offer is this: The question isn’t really whether AI can be human-centric. It’s whether humans using AI are operating in good faith.  

Iris Knobloch, the Cannes president, said when announcing the 2026 selection that “AI knows how to imitate very well, but it will never know how to feel.” I’d sharpen that. AI doesn’t need to feel. The humans making the work need to. The humans watching it need to. That’s where the human element actually lives — not in the tool, but in the people on either side of it.  

The deeper case for human-centric storytelling is responsibility. Films are made by people. People can be questioned, credited, sued, hired or fired. Models can’t. As long as humans are answerable for what shows up on screen, we have an industry that can correct itself when something goes wrong. And here’s why that matters for the aesthetic question, not just the legal one: a story someone is staking themselves on is a story that carries weight. Audiences can feel the difference between work someone is answerable for and work that’s been generated to fill a slot. That stake is what authenticity actually is. 

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National AI Literacy Day is observed annually to educate individuals on navigating a world immersed in artificial intelligence. Held on March 27 this year, the day promotes ways in which humans, including educators, can embrace the technology and better prepare for its impact.

According to the adaptive learning company HMH, research is showing many educators are growing comfortable using AI, but few feel confident teaching students how to use it responsibly. The company’s Educator Confidence Report from 2025 shows 68% of educator respondents said AI saves them one to five hours per week, allowing more time for student connection and engagement.

Florida State University’s Paul Marty is Professor in the School of Information in the College of Communication and Information and Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation. He works to coordinate, communicate and facilitate efforts among campus stakeholders to foster an environment that encourages and supports academic innovation at FSU. Marty serves as one of the university’s top experts in AI.

While AI’s impact on various industries remains to be seen, Marty emphasizes that human skills remain as important as ever.

“There are naturally a lot of worries right now about how artificial intelligence is going to reshape the workforce, universities and modern society,” Marty said. “You’ll hear people ask, ‘Why go to school, why study something new, why bother learning anything at all if AI already knows everything?’ In that environment, I think it’s important for us to remember that, for all its impressive capabilities, all AI can do is remix what humans already know how to do. When push comes to shove, what sets humans apart from AI is our creativity, our passion and our capacity to imagine new things. And that’s why our humanity, our curiosity and our ability to learn is so important.”

Media interested in gaining insight into AI literacy and understanding how universities like FSU are working with the technology may reach out to Paul Marty at marty@fsu.edu.

Paul Marty, associate vice provost for academic innovation, Florida State University

What is the value of human skills like critical thinking in an AI-driven world?

The most important skill our students need in an AI-driven world is their humanity. I tell our students all the time that what matters most – and what employers actually want – is their communication skills, their people skills, their management skills, their leadership skills, their empathy, their humanity, their ability to learn how to learn, and their ability to share what they’ve learned with other human beings in a way that inspires everyone to move forward and make the world a better place. If we don’t keep learning, we don’t move forward. If all we do is teach what we already know, then the world doesn’t move forward. Only by being open to learning new things are we able to innovate, to embrace risk, to grow, to improve; and in a world where artificial intelligence is ubiquitous, it’s our humanity that is going to make the difference.  

What’s the future of undergraduate education in the age of AI?

 If you talk with faculty at any university about undergraduate students and artificial intelligence for any length of time, the topic of cheating will inevitably come up. And when that happens, I usually try to turn that conversation around. Instead of worrying about cheating, I’ll say, try asking your students to tell you about the classes that they are not cheating in, and why they aren’t cheating in those classes. If you do that, what you’ll hear is a description of the university of the future – one where students are engaged in the material they are learning, and where they are not just learning things, but learning how to apply the things they’ve learned in new ways to define problems and develop solutions that will move humanity forward. In my opinion, the purpose of higher education should be to give our students those exact opportunities, both in and out of the classroom. Here at FSU, for example, we offer classes in Design Thinking and sponsor extracurricular events like Design Sprints where we provide our students with unique and incredibly valuable opportunities to work closely with industry, university and community partners, and apply what they are learning in the classroom to design innovative solutions to real-world, challenging problems. The more we can offer our students those kinds of experiences, the more we can let everyone know that our institutions are committed to the future of student success in a changing world, and that we are empowering our faculty, our staff and our students to thrive in that future.

 How are universities adapting to teaching and learning in the age of AI?

When it comes to artificial intelligence and higher education, many institutions are reacting from a place of fear, and that makes perfect sense. Change is hard. Innovation is disruptive, and universities worldwide are facing a future that threatens to overwhelm them with transformational change. The way people react when new technologies are introduced into their social systems is quite naturally from a place of fear. So here at FSU, we’re working with our faculty, staff and students to take us from a culture of fear to a culture of innovation. This is not easy, but it is an opportunity for us to think carefully about the purpose of higher education, and to determine whether our assessments are actually measuring what we think they are measuring, whether the things we are asking our students to do are actually worth doing and whether the things our students are learning are actually the things they should be learning. Those are not easy questions to answer, but by answering those questions, we can present a clear vision, with compelling stories and a positive message about why higher education still matters in our changing world. And by doing that, we can empower our institutions to proactively adopt disruptive innovations, respond effectively to radical change and shape the future of teaching and learning. 

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Florida State University is shaping the future of teaching, learning and living with artificial intelligence (AI) through international initiatives, including a recent program in Thailand where an FSU faculty member explored how AI is transforming entrepreneurship, education and small business development across the Indo-Pacific region. 

Eric Liguori, Jim Moran Professor and associate dean for research and external relations in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at FSU, served as lead moderator and facilitator for “Entrepreneurship in the Age of AI,” a two-day forum held Dec. 9-10 in Phuket, Thailand, that brought together more than 40 educators, policymakers, entrepreneurs and innovation leaders from the U.S. and countries across Asia-Pacific. 

Participants explored how AI and emerging digital technologies are redefining entrepreneurship education, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to scale, and opening new pathways for U.S.-Indo-Pacific collaboration. The program also emphasized the role of education systems in preparing learners across disciplines to work effectively and responsibly alongside intelligent technologies. 

As lead moderator and facilitator, Liguori guided discussions on AI readiness, entrepreneurship education, workforce transformation and small business innovation. Sessions combined expert keynotes, policy roundtables and hands-on breakout groups focused on AI governance, talent development and access to capital. 

“Artificial intelligence is changing not just what entrepreneurs do, but how quickly they need to learn, adapt and make decisions,” Liguori said. “This program was designed to help educators and ecosystem leaders think beyond tools and focus on building entrepreneurial mindsets that allow individuals and organizations to navigate uncertainty responsibly and creatively.” 

Susan Fiorito, dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, said the program reflects Florida State’s growing global leadership at the intersection of entrepreneurship and emerging technologies. 

“FSU is uniquely positioned to contribute to these global conversations because of our deep expertise in entrepreneurship education and our commitment to real-world impact,” Fiorito said. “Eric’s leadership in this program highlights how our faculty are shaping international dialogue on innovation, workforce readiness and economic development.” 

The forum concluded with delegates outlining a confidential framework focused on AI education, subject matter expert (SME) innovation and cross-border digital collaboration between the U.S. and Indo-Pacific countries. The initiative aims to enhance geopolitical competitiveness while establishing practical pathways for shared and sustainable growth. 

The program was administered by World Learning, an international education institution delivering programs in more than 150 countries worldwide. It was funded by the U.S. Department of State as part of its broader efforts to strengthen international collaboration, workforce readiness and economic resilience through education and entrepreneurship. 

The initiative aligns with FSU’s broader engagement in global education, public-private partnerships and research-informed approaches to entrepreneurship and innovation. 

At FSU, AI efforts are faculty-led and driven by the university’s commitment to student success. Faculty and staff on multiple campus committees are charged with developing best practices, policies and guidelines to ensure FSU’s faculty, staff and students have access to the latest AI technologies and are equipped with the skills they need to use AI effectively and ethically in the classroom, on campus and beyond.  

For more information about the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at FSU, visit jimmorancollege.fsu.edu. To learn more information on AI initiatives at FSU, visit ai.fsu.edu. For more information about FSU’s global footprint, visit global.fsu.edu. 

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Super Bowl LX featuring the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots has plenty of on-field storylines. But already making headlines off the field is the amount of commercials using artificial intelligence for production and storytelling.

As the revolutionary technology impacts everyday life, consumers are already seeing the effects of AI leading up to the Super Bowl. Brands have begun to create a hybrid model where AI is a collaborator in the creative and production process – from script development and director’s treatments to visual effects and animation.

While several ads have already been unveiled on social media leading up to the Super Bowl, much of the consumer reaction is based on what will air Sunday on NBC and Peacock before, during and after the game. The public response, which is expected to be varied across demographics, could be an early indicator of how consumers are embracing the AI-dominant creative process in commercials.

Brian Parker is an associate teaching professor for professional communication at Florida State University Panama City. His research is focused on consumer behavior, brand equity and image, advertisement strategy and response. Parker has extensive field experience as a consumer and market researcher, having consulted as an analyst on projects for companies including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Celebrex, Miller Beer, Budweiser, Nescafé and Florida Power & Light.

Parker believes AI’s heavy influence in advertising represents a new frontier.

“Consumer behavior is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing from psychology, sociology and economics,” Parker said. “From this perspective, AI is poised to change how consumers engage with Super Bowl advertising in both exciting and cautionary ways, with effects that vary across psychological tendencies, cultural context and generational differences.”

For more analysis on consumer behavior and reaction toward Super Bowl commercials, media may reach out to Associate Teaching Professor Brian Parker via email at bparker@fsu.edu.

Brian Parker, associate teaching professor, Florida State University Panama City

This year’s Super Bowl commercials are expected to see an enormous breakthrough in AI development, from production to accelerated ideation. What kind of impact do you expect this to have on consumer behavior toward these ads?

From a psychological standpoint, AI will likely increase attention and novelty in the short term. AI-driven visuals, hyper-personalized storytelling and rapid creative iteration can produce ads that feel surprising, emotionally resonant and highly tailored. However, consumers are also becoming increasingly persuasion-savvy. When an ad feels overly synthetic or manipulative, audiences may disengage or question its authenticity. In this environment, trust becomes just as important as creativity.

Advertising, after all, operates in the interruption business. If brands fail to interrupt with something relevant, entertaining or meaningful, they simply become part of the clutter competing for attention. AI may help brands break through that clutter, but only if it enhances, rather than replaces, human insight.

Culturally, AI signals a broader shift in which technology is no longer operating behind the scenes but becoming part of the narrative itself. For some audiences, AI-enabled ads will represent innovation and progress. For others, particularly amid concerns about job displacement and ethics, they may trigger skepticism or backlash. Brands that acknowledge AI transparently and use it as a tool rather than a gimmick are more likely to resonate.

From a sociological angle, the Super Bowl functions as a shared, communal ritual. AI will likely amplify this collective experience by accelerating meme creation, social sharing and second-screen engagement. Ads may be designed not simply to be watched, but to be remixed, discussed and debated in real time. Given the influence of social media and creators in shaping culture, this may be the most immediate short-term impact of AI-generated advertising.

Are there any AI commercials that have already been released or will be released on Super Bowl Sunday that you feel could reflect the technology’s enormous impact?

Even before kickoff, several AI-driven Super Bowl commercials have already generated significant buzz, signaling just how deeply artificial intelligence is shaping the advertising landscape. Early releases, teasers and online conversations show that AI is not simply influencing what happens during the game, but also how audiences anticipate and talk about ads in the days leading up to it.

One of the clearest examples is Svedka Vodka, which released a spot that relies heavily on generative AI for its visuals, choreography and character animation. In this case, AI is not just a behind-the-scenes production tool but part of the creative identity of the ad itself. By placing machine-assisted creativity front and center, the brand invites viewers to react directly to the aesthetic and emotional feel of AI-generated content. The mixed reactions it has sparked, with some viewers finding it innovative and others finding it artificial or uncanny, highlight the ongoing tension between novelty and authenticity.

At the same time, major technology companies such as OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are using Super Bowl advertising to position AI as an everyday, consumer-friendly tool. Rather than focusing purely on spectacle, these campaigns emphasize normalization by showing AI integrated into daily life, work and creative tasks. This reflects a broader shift from presenting AI as futuristic to presenting it as practical and accessible. From a consumer behavior perspective, these commercials function as more than product promotions. They also serve as cultural signals that shape how people feel about AI itself.

Ultimately, these early examples demonstrate that AI is already influencing both the creative process and the narrative content of advertising. Its impact is not theoretical or future focused. It is happening now and reshaping how brands capture attention, build relationships and connect emotionally with consumers.

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The Florida State University College of Law, along with the Stoops Center for Law and Business and the Institute of Law, Technology, and Innovation, hosted its first AI Day in the Capital last week, bringing together experts to discuss the future of artificial intelligence.

With College of Law Dean and Donald J. Weidner Chair Erin O’Hara O’Connor kicking off the event with a welcome message, the day was filled with discussions and presentations that included leaders in government, law, technology, and academia. The event examined the rapidly evolving landscape of AI and its implications for public institutions, civic infrastructure and ethical governance.

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The global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) has driven billions of dollars into new data centers, sharply increasing energy use and costs for consumers.

Built to handle the massive computational power of AI workloads, these data centers are creating wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than five years ago for customers living in those areas. A single ChatGPT query consumes approximately 10 times as much energy as a traditional Google search.

Florida State University’s Mark McNees is a professor at the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship who specializes in social entrepreneurship and innovation. He directs the Social and Sustainable Enterprises program, providing expertise on areas that include organization transformation, board governances, multi-stakeholder networks and building cultures of innovation.

McNees suggests that the surge in energy expenses driven by AI could just be getting started.

“As AI adoption accelerates and data centers proliferate to support this demand, we’re facing significant upward pressure on electricity prices that most consumers don’t yet realize is coming,” McNees said.

McNees teaches several social entrepreneurship courses while mentoring FSU students in the cultivation, refinement and launch of social enterprises. He has written several opinion columns and editorials on energy sustainability and efficiency, and hosts the long-running InNOLEvation Mindset Podcast that tells the stories of various entrepreneurs.

Professor Mark McNees is available for interviews on the intersection of AI infrastructure and energy grid capacity. He can be reached at mmcnees@jimmorancollege.fsu.edu.

Mark McNees, director, Social and Sustainable Enterprises

Worldwide surging demand for AI has collided with rising energy costs for customers in areas where data centers are operating. How sustainable is this type of dilemma in the long term?
The short answer: It’s not sustainable without fundamental changes to how we finance energy infrastructure. The current system was designed for an era when electricity demand grew only modestly year over year. That world ended when ChatGPT launched.

Here’s the economic reality nobody wants to discuss: Utilities are building expensive infrastructure based on speculative data center demand. Electric utility company AEP Ohio alone has received requests for 30 gigawatts of new connections from data centers, enough to power 24 million homes. But data center developers are shopping for projects across multiple locations before committing. When those projects don’t materialize, who pays for the stranded infrastructure? Ratepayers. As one consultant from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis put it, residential customers tend to end up holding the bag for stranded costs.

The sustainability question cuts both ways. Yes, wholesale electricity prices have surged 267% in some areas near data center clusters. But the contrarian view supported by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory research suggests that states with higher electricity demand growth have experienced smaller retail price increases. The logic is straightforward, when more electricity flows across existing infrastructure, fixed costs are spread over more kilowatt-hours.

The difference between these outcomes comes down to planning and who bears the costs. In northern Virginia, large data center customers cover roughly 9% of transmission costs, helping keep residential transmission rates below the national average. In Mississippi, data center revenue has funded grid modernization without raising household rates. The model works when implemented thoughtfully. The crisis emerges when it isn’t.

What potential solutions are there to allow consumers to not bear the cost of rising energy prices from these AI data centers?
The good news: Solutions exist, and some tech companies are already implementing them. Microsoft recently announced it will request to pay higher electricity rates in areas where it’s building data centers — specifically to prevent residents from subsidizing its AI infrastructure. The announcement came after President Trump indicated his administration is working with major tech companies to ensure Americans don’t “pick up the tab” for their power consumption.

But voluntary corporate goodwill isn’t a policy framework. Here are the structural solutions that can protect consumers:

Require data centers to build their own generation. Solar and battery storage are now the cheapest and fastest ways to deploy new electricity capacity. When Meta built a data center in Aiken, South Carolina, it partnered with a solar developer to install 100 megawatts of on-site generation. Redwood Materials launched a microgrid combining 12 megawatts of solar with 63 megawatt-hours of storage specifically to power AI data centers. The technology exists. Policy should incentivize — or mandate — its deployment.

Reform interconnection and capacity market rules. Utilities shouldn’t build infrastructure for speculative projects. Stricter requirements — like those AEP Ohio proposed, requiring data centers to post more collateral or commit to specific electricity purchases — can ensure developers have skin in the game before ratepayers assume risk.

Leverage distributed energy resources. A Rewiring America report proposes an elegant inversion: If data center developers invested in residential energy efficiency (heat pumps, rooftop solar, home batteries) they could “unlock the capacity they need” while reducing household bills. In California, a virtual power plant test dispatched 535 megawatts from over 100,000 homes, meeting half of San Francisco’s energy demand. The infrastructure exists in America’s rooftops. We’re just not using it strategically.

Embrace renewable energy as the fastest path to capacity. During a July 2025 Senate hearing, a Vantage Data Centers executive testified that meeting America’s AI power needs requires all energy sources — including storage. His key insight: Renewables paired with batteries provide the “reliable, grid dispatchable” power that data centers need. This isn’t environmental activism. It’s the fastest way to build capacity. Orders for new gas turbines face seven-year delays. Solar installations can be deployed in months.

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