Media Advisory: AI leaders from SUNY, industry to converge at UB this week

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Artificial intelligence leaders from across New York State will gather this week at the University at Buffalo to discuss how the rapidly evolving technology is reshaping society.

The State University of New York (SUNY) AI Symposium, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday on UB’s North Campus, will bring together AI researchers from across the SUNY system and other universities, as well as leaders from IBM, Moog, Inc., M&T Bank and other industries.

It will include lectures, demonstrations and events that showcase how innovators – tenured professors, undergraduate students, startup founders and others – are harnessing AI for the public good.

News media are invited to the symposium.

When: The symposium runs each day from roughly 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The best times for media are:

Tuesday:

• 8:30-9:30 a.m. Opening remarks from SUNY and UB leadership.
• 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. A discussion on Empire AI, the $400 million research consortium and its supercomputing center, which is housed at UB.

Wednesday:

• 8:30 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the UB School of Management’s Center for AI Business Innovation.
• 10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. Industry panel featuring leaders from IBM, Moog, Inc., M&T Bank, CISCO, and New York Power Authority.
• Noon to 1:30 p.m. AI demos and startups. This event will feature exciting new startups, and demos of how UB is employing AI for the public good.

Here is a full schedule of the symposium.

Where: All events Tuesday will be held at Slee Hall. All events Wednesday will be held at the Center for the Arts.

The symposium will run concurrently with AI Week at UB, which will showcase UB’s broad and decades-long expertise in AI with additional events Monday through Friday. Events will feature UB researchers, students and other professionals working with AI in health care, education, cybersecurity, public health and more.

AI Week at UB also spotlights the lead role that UB – a SUNY flagship and worldwide leader in AI research and education for nearly 50 years – is playing in Empire AI and the development of AI technologies for the public good. The consortium’s supercomputing center, located on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, will eventually be moved to UB’s North Campus.

Already, researchers are using the facility to develop technology that aims to ease the nation’s shortage of mental health professionals, improve medical imaging, and assist people with motor neuron diseases like ALS, amongst other efforts.

It also comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday that UB (and other SUNY institutions) will receive $5 million to create a new AI & Society Department dedicated to education and research that harnesses the AI for the betterment of society.