This message was sent to the UW Board of Deans and Chancellors, President’s Council, Board of Regents and Faculty Senate.
Dear colleagues,
I’m pleased to announce that Noah Smith, a professor in the Allen School and senior director of Natural Language Processing research at the Allen Institute for AI, has agreed to serve as the University’s first vice provost and endowed chair for artificial intelligence. He will maintain his faculty position while serving his five-year term which began Nov. 1. Professor Smith’s endowed chair appointment is pending approval from the Board of Regents.
Throughout the UW, faculty and staff are leading the way in shaping universities in the time of AI. And over the past two years, we have had wide ranging discussions about AI, the need for a University-wide strategy on AI and our institution’s responsibility to lead in this conversation – not only in potential applications but in the ethical and equitable use of AI in all aspects of our mission: teaching and learning, research and discovery, outreach and engagement.
With the appointment of a vice provost for AI, we will further position ourselves as a model for how universities can responsibly and creatively adapt to the age of AI in our academic mission and in administration and governance. By leading the AI@UW initiative, Professor Smith aims to accelerate innovation and collaboration, illuminate achievements, and propagate effective practices throughout the UW community and beyond.
The new vice provost for AI position also marks the sunsetting of the AI Task Force that was charged in early 2024 to suggest an institution-wide strategy for AI. I’d like to thank the task force members, as well as chairs Andreas Bohman and Anind Dey, for their multifaceted work exploring the UW’s responsibility to lead in the conversation around AI – not only in potential applications but in their ethical and equitable use. The task force’s work provides a wealth of insight and ideas to continue the conversation.
AI@UW will consist of a set of efforts, including an AI governance committee, a new AI-focused website that highlights faculty and research across the University, and SEED-AI grants to fund projects that explore the use of AI, broadly construed, in UW educational activities, led by UW faculty. SEED-AI grants will support exploratory projects aiming to discover how AI can enhance learning and teaching across disciplines, create a learning community within the UW, and inspire future developments of AI for teaching and learning and AI literacy across disciplines, ensuring that our students are prepared for the workforce needs of today and tomorrow.
The vice provost position and these AI-related efforts are made possible by the generosity of donors Lisa and Charles Simonyi who recently established the Simonyi Endowed Chair for Artificial Intelligence and the Simonyi Fund for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies.
The Simonyis have a long history of supporting the UW. Lisa Simonyi is the chair of the UW Foundation Board, and Charles Simonyi is a technical fellow at Microsoft, where he also was a pioneer in developing software applications.
Lisa Simonyi leverages her leadership and philanthropy to accelerate innovative research and education. She is a tireless advocate for educating students in AI so they are equipped to enter the workforce with the skills needed to become industry leaders and innovators.
The Simonyis also have generously supported research at the Institute for Data-intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology, which uses advanced data science to explore the Universe based on imagery gained from the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.
Driven by curiosity and a long-term hope to create useful tools, Professor Smith has been at the forefront of research in AI and teaching AI for more than 20 years. He is committed to promoting AI literacy, exploring how AI can enrich learning across disciplines, and helping steer AI’s development in ways that are most useful to the University’s mission.
I am grateful to Professor Smith for his willingness to take on this leadership role as he guides the University in developing our University-wide strategy and approach to AI research and education, and to the Simonyis for their vision and deep commitment to the University that make this possible.
Sincerely,
Tricia R. Serio
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor, Biochemistry