UB | AI is a two-year series exploring how UB faculty across disciplines are harnessing artificial intelligence for the public good. Launched on September 6, 2023, the series will discuss AI's role in advancing societal good in the realms of education, health care and the arts, among others.

As a young computer scientist at IBM, Jinjun Xiong was impressed when the company’s Watson computer won “Jeopardy!”. But he also thought we should be using AI to help people, not beat them. Today, as the director of UB’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, he’s spearheading multiple AI projects that do just that. In this episode of Driven to Discover, he talks to host Cory Nealon about all the ways AI can make our lives better, and why we shouldn’t be so afraid of it.

As a child, Joyce Hwang was fascinated by the way animals would create little disturbances in the human-made landscape. Now the intersection between animals and the built environment is the focus of her architectural practice and teaching. In this episode of Driven to Discover, she tells us why it’s critical to design our buildings and backyards to accommodate non-human species, for our sake as well as theirs.

When it was Jeff Scott’s turn to choose an instrument, the sixth grader picked the French horn because no one else had. Today, he is one of the nation’s premier French hornists and a Grammy-winning composer. In this engaging episode of Driven to Discover, Scott shares his unexpected path to success and how his multicultural Queens upbringing shaped the wildly eclectic music he writes today.