LEARNING CURVE
Exploring the Benefits and Risks of AI INSIGHTS FROM DAVID GURZICK, M.S.’03, PH.D. David Gurzick, M.S.’03, Ph.D., is the director of The Michael S., P’09 and Marlene B. Grossnickle Young ’76, H’14, P’09 Data Driven Frederick Center. As a professor of management science at Hood, he offers courses in the management of information systems, analytical methods, socially responsible management and, most recently, artificial intelligence (AI). Generative AI, which democratizes access to machine intelligence, has the potential to fundamentally reshape business processes at all levels and across all industries. This transformative technology is also the focus of the Graduate School’s first Skill Accelerator digital badge course, which Gurzick taught in summer 2024 (Read more on Page 14). HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE FIELD OF AI? My journey into AI began during my master’s in computer science here at Hood in 2003. I took every AI course available, including a special topics course on genetic algorithms. My work in handwriting recognition caught the attention of one of my professors, leading to an introduction to some venture capitalists. This connection resulted in the founding of Sonum Technologies, where I became the first employee. Sonum specialized in natural language processing, language translation and speech recognition— as I like to say, AI before AI became cool. Our work was even featured on the front page of The Baltimore Sun.
Increasingly, AI is being infused into social computing, both by the platforms themselves and in tools used to automate interactions on these systems. Recently, I published an article for the Information Professionals Association,
discussing how non-state actors are using generative AI to inject and spread disinformation on social media platforms like TikTok. This research led to discussions with Senator Mark Warner’s office about potential regulations for social media algorithms. TELL US ABOUT THE NEW APPLIED GENERATIVE AI SKILL ACCELERATOR COURSE YOU'RE TEACHING. Our new course, Applied Generative AI, is designed to explore the strategic application of generative AI in driving innovation and value creation across various business domains like healthcare, government, marketing and finance. Students will learn to leverage generative AI techniques to solve real-world problems and optimize processes within organizations, exploring the theoretical foundations of how these systems work and how the mechanics behind them can be customized toward particular use cases. This is also the first digital badge we’re offering from the Graduate School, reflecting the growing importance of AI skills in today’s job market.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT FOCUS OF YOUR RESEARCH? My research primarily focuses on understanding and designing social computing technologies—the systems and communities where we discover, interact, share and create. David Gurzick, M.S.’03, Ph.D., demonstrates AI at Data Driven Frederick.
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HOOD MAGAZINE
THE MAGAZINE OF HOOD COLLEGE
FALL 2024