ASPI News and Events

University Professor Sean O’Keefe says whoever is appointed at Boeing will need to be able to listen to the concerns of the industry. In particular, they will need to work hand in hand with its airline customers—from Alaska Airlines to United—to make sure safety issues will be the focus in the months ahead, he says.

The Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, housed in the Maxwell School, is an inaugural member of U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium.

"Against 'Democratizing AI'," authored by Johannes Himmelreich, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication.

"Examining the Smart City Generational Model: Conceptualizations, Implementations, and Infrastructure Canada's Smart City Challenge," co-authored by Austin Zwick, assistant teaching professor of policy studies, was published in Urban Affairs Review.

In the glory days of the American labor movement, when unions were strong and wages rose alongside productivity, “organized workers could cash that out as more free time,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology. “But for decades, workers haven’t even been getting that choice because, for the most part, productivity growth has ended up as higher profits and more inequality.”

Two Syracuse University institutes are welcoming researchers, academic leaders, policymakers and journalists for discussions in Washington, D.C., about innovations, vulnerabilities and the future of artificial intelligence. The two-day AI Policy Symposium that begins Thursday in the nation’s capital is organized by the Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship and the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute.

The Autonomous Systems Policy Institute has partnered with the Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship for the two-day event. 

The Maxwell School faculty member will use the fellowship to engage the public on perceptions and governance of artificial intelligence.

“Sixty-nine percent of those who currently live in the U.S. say that visa and immigration issues are a serious problem for them conducting AI research,” says Baobao Zhang, assistant professor of political science and senior research associate in the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute.

“I think about academics having to write grants all the time,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology, as an example. Those can be formulaic and would take far less time with the help of a machine. In programming, it’s helping engineers “write up basic outlines of code or sometimes like whole sections of code,” he says. 

The funding will support his research on ethical dilemmas in data science, culminating in a co-authored book manuscript.

Generation Lab conducted the survey for Axios in partnership with Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship (IDJC) and the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute (ASPI). 

“Unfortunately, academics as much as many others, including Silicon Valley folks, are culpable for spreading this kind of fear and anxiety in the society,” says University Professor Hamid Ekbia. “Let’s stop for a second, take a deep breath, and see what is really possible in both directions, in terms of risks, but also in terms of the promises.”  

As part of ASPI’s global outreach program, Director Hamid Ekbia visited Spain in July 2023, where he met with Carme Artigas Brugal, Spain’s secretary of state for digitalization and artificial intelligence, and Maxwell Advisory Board member Javier Font '92 M.P.A. 

The symposium will connect academics with policymakers and newsroom leaders for discussions around AI innovations and vulnerabilities. It also will serve as the launch event for the Academic Alliance for AI Policy, an organization making AI experts’ advice accessible to lawmakers and policymakers in their efforts to regulate AI.

The four-week program is being offered by Orange Works with support from ASPI and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

He says his Maxwell education, particularly in political science and policy studies, provided a foundation in the multifaceted problem solving involved in his work. “Maxwell taught me how to widen my policy and regulatory aperture,” he says, “because that’s what creates success when certifying autonomous technologies in and outside aviation.”

Amid the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, Maxwell scholars are gathering critical data, designing policy and informing future leaders.

Surveys indicate that Swedish citizens display less anxiety about robots taking their jobs, in part because when companies introduce new technologies, they often pay to upgrade their workers’ skills. “If you upskill workers, you pay them more,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology. “That's a more durable and sustainable process.”