UB will introduce a new department this fall, bridging the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
The AI and Society (AIS) department will offer undergraduate and graduate degrees that explore artificial intelligence’s impact on society over several disciplines such as communication, health and philosophy.
The university will receive $5 million from New York State to fund the department — which will go towards computing equipment and faculty hires — as part of a state initiative to broaden artificial intelligence (AI) development and interdisciplinary collaboration. NYS awarded seven other SUNYs for similar initiatives to create an AI-centered department.
Construction for a new building dedicated to AIS on UB’s North Campus is expected to begin in summer 2027. $196 million in SUNY funding will go to the building’s development according to a university spokesperson.
Atri Rudra — a computer science professor — will serve as the inaugural department chair.
“To truly address problems at the intersection of society and AI, we really need disparate disciplines to come together and both educate the next generation of students and do research,” Rudra wrote in an email to The Spectrum. “The new AIS department will be a natural, central place for all these new ideas and pedagogies to develop, which will in turn, hopefully, put UB on the map as the place to be if you want to think about issues at the intersection of society and AI.”
Ricardo Castillo is the editor in chief and can be reached at ricardo.castillo@ubspectrum.com
Ricardo Castillo is the editor-in-chief of The Spectrum.
