Is there a way to responsibly engage with AI? Who determines if AI is being used responsibly? Can we trust AI? The 2025 Pitt Business Impact Conference on Artificial Intelligence, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Business, discussed these questions and more about artificial intelligence (AI) across various disciplines.
On April 11, 2025, the conference “Driving Positive Impact Through Human-Centric and Responsible Use of AI” hosted over 25 industry expert panelists and speakers, and was attended by more than 150 academic, business, and technology leaders. This event was held in collaboration with the Pitt Business Center for Branding, Pittsburgh Technology Council, Pitt School of Computing and Information, and Responsible Data Science at Pitt.
Vanitha Swaminathan, associate dean for research and strategic initiatives and Thomas Marshall Professor of Marketing, says, “With businesses rapidly integrating AI across all functional areas, developing a better understanding of AI governance and responsible AI practices is absolutely critical. By bringing together voices across disciplines ranging from law, medicine, philosophy, computer science, and of course business, this conference shed light on how to define and describe responsibility around AI from the perspective of an individual, a business, and society as a whole.”
Three Keynotes, Four Panels
The conference included three keynote speakers who introduced concepts and topics crucial to understanding the successes and pitfalls of AI. Engaging panel discussions followed each keynote address.
Andrew Moore, former Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and founder of Lovelace.AI, kicked off the day by pointing out that we should not solely rely on AI; there is a danger of false information and AI’s reliance on existing stereotypes. He believes that AI-based autonomous systems have immense value but should be used with the decisions made in the context of safety zones, and it shouldn’t be used to influence the outcome.
Elham Tabassi, director of artificial intelligence and emerging technology at The Brookings Institution, shared information about AI policy and how, because AI is growing rapidly, policy struggles to keep up. The role of policy is to mitigate risks.
“Assessing risk is different than measuring performance,” she says. Managing risk is challenging due to risk being hard to measure, risk tolerances varying from group to group, and solutions must be integrated into the systems. Her takeaway is that practitioners should focus more on the societal good from the start instead of mitigating harm after a mistake is made. “The question is not what AI can do, but what do we want it to do for people, society, and the planet?” asks Tabassi.
Stefano Puntoni, Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, discussed academic research on Generative AI and the education perspective.
More industries are embracing Gen AI: The average investment in Gen AI has increased 2.3 times, with enterprises spending $10.3 million compared to $4.5 million the previous year. However, he stresses the need for higher education to help students navigate Generative AI. “Teaching students how to look for bias will give them a vital skill,” says Puntoni.
The list of panels shows the range of topics discussed at the conference:
Inter-disciplinary perspectives on Human-Centered and Responsible AI
Panelists discussed AI’s positive and negative effects from diverse industry perspectives. They discussed three times to use AI – where there is too much data, when the information is too complex, and when there are limits to human intellect.
- Moderator: Rob Cunningham
- Panelists: Michael Colaresi, Na Du, Morgan Frank, Michael Madison, and Shandong Wu
AI Deployment and Its Impacts: A Business and Industry Perspective
This panel noted that there is a lot of distrust in AI and its impact on people’s lives, careers, and businesses. A solution is transparency and a focus on what new things can be accomplished, what superpowers AI can give users instead of replacement and automation. AI Literacy programs that pair incentives with inspiration may be a possible solution.
- Moderators: Andy Hannah and Vanitha Swaminathan
- Panelists: Saira Jesani, Mckenzie Lock, Bill Moore, Justin Weisz, and Joseph Yun
AI in Education
In this session, panelists discussed the effects of AI in the realm of higher education. They shared initiatives that synthesize AI and the classroom, precautions they are taking to mitigate potential negative effects, and advice to take advantage of the AI education boom.
- Moderators: R. Venkatesh and Mark Haney
- Panelists: Tinglong Dai, Diane Litman, Michael Madison, and John Radzilowicz
AI and the Human Experience
This panel focused on responsible uses of AI and how humans can still flourish with these AI tools. AI tools are not capable of empathy and compassion. They also discussed the need to look at the unintended consequences of the tools being built.
- Moderator: Narayan Ramasubbu
- Panelists: Saira Jesani, Alison Langmead, Lance Lindauer, and Edouard Machery
Pitt Business Impact Conferences
This event is a part of the Pitt Business Impact Conference series. In its first year, the series hosted four conferences focused on health sciences and business, AI-enabled supply chain, responsible AI, and sustainability governance (coming up on May 5).
These conferences are just one of the many ways Pitt Business connects industry leaders and academics to analyze complex issues. If you are interested in participating as a speaker, partnering with one of our academic centers, or attending any of our upcoming conferences, please contact the Office of Strategic Partnerships at partners@business.pitt.edu.