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Zhang says that, as a child, his affinity for science fiction films and their exploration of AI—well before the technology was a reality—planted a seed for exploring these concepts. His interest flourished while working toward his undergraduate degree in information systems. Noticing a gap in the ability of technology to analyze text, rather than simply scan and store it, Zhang focused his efforts on the advancement of AI and finding solutions to the real-life problems he and others faced. Zhang earned his Ph.D. in computer and information science in 2005 from the University of Michigan. Now, with a focus on the intersection of natural language processing and machine learning, Zhang has worked with industry leaders such as Google, IBM, Alliance, and Microsoft. Recently, he published papers with Microsoft research colleagues on conversational AI. He uses this expertise to mine textual data such as news articles, social media posts, and product reviews to train his AI models. Recently, he has expanded his research horizon into multimodal data mining. And, as the capabilities of AI grow and its uses multiply, the need for people in all fields to have a basic understanding of it has likewise grown. In addition to his innovative research in business AI, Zhang has recently begun a collaboration with colleagues from the College of Nursing to develop conversational AI agents for use in the healthcare industry. While this endeavor remains in its infancy, Zhang, along with his collaborators and students, hopes to bring much needed assistance to those in the medical field, and their patients. “Whether you’re the patient or the caretaker, we’re actually not good at handling large amounts of data,” he explains. “Even if we can to some extent, we don’t like the data being thrown at us in a mechanical form.” Zhang sees an opportunity for AI to come in and assist medical professionals. One of the main challenges that needs to be tackled is that humans prefer human-like communication over computer-like communication. Consequently, the success of AI working in a nursing setting would correlate with how well it is able to mimic human communication. Given his expertise in both natural language processing and machine learning, Zhang is uniquely qualified to help achieve the goal of offering a more human-like interaction where a patient can engage with a conversational agent. This is why Zhang focuses his efforts not only on research, but also on the advancement of AI knowledge among both students and faculty. Through programs, such as the Distinguished Speakers Series and AI Fireside Chats, both at URI, Zhang strives to bring the University’s most prominent AI scholars together to talk about their research and educate others on campus.

ZHANG SAYS THAT AS A CHILD HIS AFFINITY FOR SCIENCE FICTION FILMS AND THEIR EXPLORATION OF AI—WELL BEFORE THE TECHNOLOGY WAS A REALITY—PLANTED A SEED FOR EXPLORING THESE CONCEPTS.

ZHU (DREW) ZHANG Professor and Alfred J. Verrecchia Endowed Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Business Analytics

that inevitably surfaces is job security. In the last few months, businesses and individuals have become increasingly concerned about the future of AI in various industries. For example, the recent Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes partially focused on protecting artists from losing jobs to AI. Zhang agrees that people are right to be worried, as we will most likely start seeing AI replace some jobs.

However, he also stresses: “It’s not like something that hasn’t happened before. Whenever we had a new generation of technology, there were always concerns about jobs being lost or replaced, but it turned out that there are always new jobs that will arise from somewhere else.” Zhang says he expects that this pattern will continue with the advancement of AI. With this shift in the job market, students—and more importantly, their curriculum—is going to have to adapt.

“Previously, when we talked about literacy, we were talking about the reading, writing, math kinds of literacy,” says Zhang. “Then, you needed some type of IT literacy. Now we’re talking about AI. You need some type of AI literacy.” While most people do not need to learn how AI works inside and out, Zhang notes, many would benefit from learning how to communicate both with and about AI to keep up with the ever-changing world.

With the increasing prevalence and advancement of AI, one topic

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