The Brief »

Welcome back! How was your summer? Before the semester gets away from us, we want to know: As faculty, staff and students, how are your classes, schools, or programs addressing AI?

We've heard about it in fragments — a syllabus policy here, a new tool there, a governance conversation. This fall, HAIL is building the full picture, in your words. We're asking across six areas: classroom, campus life, operations, governance, research, workforce readiness. A policy. A pilot. A Syllabus. A hard "no" for an application. A lesson learned. We want to hear about it! 

Here are some of the things that HAIL has help developed to share approaches:

• RDS Student Scholars Program and the HAIL Graduate Awardees Program — students building their own frameworks for responsible data science in their field
• Rol-AI-Dex and AI Teaching Field Notes — our network map and faculty-submitted teaching stories
• AI Playbook — the shared, living guide to how Pitt approaches AI across research, teaching, and operations
• What Is Responsible Data Science? — our working definition, plus the ConCReTE Curriculum that puts it into practice

Beyond Pitt »

What We're Noticing—Emerging Trends, Research, and Perspectives Sharing AI and Data Science

• A recent commentary in Nature argues that scientists should lead a shift away from AI mega data centers and towards open weight, energy-efficient models that can be run on personal and institutional hardware. "Researchers and open-source developers can help to build the tools, integrations and domain-specific agents that allow local models to perform sophisticated scientific tasks. Educators can train students not only how to use AI models, but also how to determine when local models are preferable to cloud-based systems and how to develop applications that run efficiently on local hardware. AI was never the work of any one company, and its future won’t be either."

• A Washington Post piece suggests that there is increasing evidence that growth in AI is widening, rather than shrinking, inequality across the country. "Data shows that the people making the most use of AI are concentrated in richer urban areas, while disadvantaged regions have lagged behind... While it’s common for new technologies to be adopted first by higher-income people and regions, Mark Muro at Brookings said that AI could ossify the existing gap between America’s regional economic winners and losers." 

Have articles you want to share with us for next time? Email them to us! 

What’s Next »

• What Should I Do About AI? A Pitt Community Workshop on AI and Energy — September 2, 2026 (4–5:30 p.m.) — Open community conversation at the William Pitt Union, Assembly Room, on how to think through AI use rather than a top-down policy briefing. All Pitt faculty, staff, and students welcome.
• Welcome Back Party — September 10, 2026 (4–6 p.m.) — Casual season-opener at Wesley W. Posvar Hall, Room 2500.
• Powering AI: Infrastructure, Innovation, and Regional Readiness — September 16, 2026 (8:30–11 AM) — Regional convening on AI infrastructure and readiness at 250 Forbes Avenue, Ste. 201.
• AI Horizons Pittsburgh 2026 — September 17–18, 2026 — Major regional AI summit at Bakery Square focused on healthcare, robotics, manufacturing, finance, and commercialization. 
• AI Proposal Event — September 18, 2026 (10–11:30 AM) — Session for faculty developing AI, data science, or analytics program proposals, at Wesley W. Posvar Hall, Room 2500. Lightning talks followed by direct feedback ahead of approval.
• Server-Side Chats
  • Advisory Board — October 22, 2026 (4–5:30 p.m.) — First of the fall Server-Side Chats series, Posvar Hall, Room 2500.
  • Admins & Program Directors — November 5, 2026 (4–5:30 p.m.) — Second in the series, same location.
  • Student Orgs (+ End-of-Semester Party) — December 3, 2026 (4–6 p.m.) — Series finale plus the end-of-semester celebration, Posvar Hall, Room 2500.
• 2027 Data Science & AI Leadership Summit — April 5–7, 2027 — Invitation-only gathering of academic data science and AI leaders from across the U.S., hosted by HAIL in Pittsburgh. 

Pittsburgh's Youth Climate Action Fund is open

The City of Pittsburgh is offering $1,000–$5,000 microgrants, backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, to youth-led teams (ages 15–24) tackling climate challenges — tree planting, waste reduction, transit, clean water, and more. Applications are open through Oct 2. Read program guidelines and application materials.

Spotlights »

• AI Teaching Field Notes 

  • Maureen Gallagher | In her Professional Uses of Social Media course, students draft by hand first, then choose — and have to justify — whether AI plays any role in what comes next.
  • Mohammad Alexanderani | The Pathology professor on hallucination as a dial, not a defect, and how the Pitt AI Academy teaches faculty to control what a model knows rather than just how it talks.

• Advice from the Board" series

  • Albrecht Powell: Learn to Leverage AI | The Accenture Managing Director and Katz adjunct faculty on why AI literacy — not AI itself — is what will change who gets ahead.
  • Bridget Fitzpatrick: Can You Explain It to a 10-Year-Old? | The DICK'S Sporting Goods data science manager's test for whether you actually understand a concept — or just sound like you do.

• Recent posts

  • June 17, 2026 — Where Research Meets Reality: HAIL-MCSI Summer Researchers Tackle AI, Sustainability, and the Future of Learning | This summer's MCSI research cohort met with faculty advisors and industry guests to share project updates and dig into what it means to learn in the age of AI.

  • June 11, 2026 — Leading Together in the Era of AI: Improving Human Judgment Through Connection | By Michael Colaresi, HAIL Director — on the isolation of facing AI-driven decisions alone, and why connection changes that.

  • June 8, 2026 — HAIL Graduate Awardees Spotlight: Rose Gatfield-Jeffries | Kicking off the Awardees spotlight series: a History and Philosophy of Science PhD student examining AI in scientific research through an epistemological and ethical lens.

  • ​​​​​​​June 4, 2026 — RDS Scholars Spotlight: Ethics of Gen AI Intelligence in Research | Students Akarshana Rajesh, Leila Pridotkas, Sanvi Gandikota, and Julian Reinstein examine the ethics of generative AI in research.

Have an article, topic, or event you'd like us to spotlight? Tell us about it! 

What I Want My Kids to Know About GenAI | A practical guide from Pitt Cyber that helps parents and caregivers start thoughtful conversations with young people about AI, data, trust, creativity, and digital citizenship.

Read more: Download the GenAI Guide

DataJam Mentoring — New Directed Study Course!

We've adapted! DataJam Mentoring is now a Directed Study course (STAT 1092), meeting Wednesdays 7–8:30 PM on Zoom — starting tonight. We're still recruiting students interested in AI/Data Science who want to give back and build their resume. Mentors support high school and community college students nationwide — including rural, Native American, immigrant, and homeless communities — in a national data science competition. Flexible, high-impact, and easy to fit into any schedule.

IE 1171: AI for Social Good — first class this Thursday!

New this fall from Prof. Amin Rahimian (Industrial Engineering): a course using LLM-integrated labs to teach AI/ML through real-world problems in public health, misinformation, fairness, privacy, and more. Thursdays 6–8:30 PM, 158 Benedum Hall. Any stats course satisfies the prerequisite. Course repo