Iowa State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) launched a new interdisciplinary initiative focused on trustworthy and ethical artificial intelligence (AI).
The Trusted Innovation in AI aims to advance the university’s use of AI, while ensuring the technology is also trustworthy, ethical, and used across disciplines.
“Our strengths across the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences allow us to examine AI through the lenses of ethics, communication, policy, human behavior, and scientific rigor simultaneously,” said Benjamin Withers, dean of LAS, in a statement. “By bringing these disciplines together, we can help ensure that AI systems are not only innovative, but transparent, accountable, and worthy of public trust.”
The initiative focuses on research tied to trustworthy, ethical, and interdisciplinary AI, while the college also explores broader efforts to integrate AI into curricula and set policies for classroom use.
The college’s Trusted Innovation in AI initiative page says the effort was identified through LAS strategic planning as a focus for college-sponsored interdisciplinary research opportunities.
The college said existing work will serve as a foundation for future projects. That includes AI-assisted methods to support the National Resources Inventory, an undergraduate applied AI minor, a master of science in AI, and the Dependable Data-Driven Discovery program.
“LAS is uniquely positioned to approach AI from multiple perspectives, with researchers studying everything from the technical foundations and applications of AI to its ethical, political, and human dimensions,” said Geetu Tuteja, LAS interim assistant dean for strategic research initiatives. “That breadth allows us to examine not only what AI can do, but also how it should be used responsibly.”
New projects under the Trusted Innovation in AI initiative will launch once funding becomes available, the college said. The release did not specify a total funding amount, but said most current activities are supported by private donors through named professorships.
