USC AI Summit

David Nelson, director of mixed reality research and development at USC ICT, experimented with AI tools to create a short film, discovering creative freedom but also the loss of human collaboration, urging creators to understand AI’s risks and keep humanity central.

Phebe Vayanos, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, worked with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LASA) to develop AI with community input to equitably allocate scarce housing, navigating fairness trade-offs and improving homelessness outcomes, showing how tailored, transparent AI can better support vulnerable populations.

Sam Nastase, a neuroscientist from USC’s Center for Computational Language Sciences, shows how large language models illuminate how brains encode and share meaning, mapping AI representations to human activity and revealing synchronized speaker–listener dynamics during real conversations.

Nathanael Fast, director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making, addresses how AI must shift from profit-first to purpose-driven systems that support human flourishing, using public input, accountability, and collective power to ensure technology aligns with society’s aspirational goals.

Ron Guerrier, CTO at Save the Children, highlights his experiences with bias to introduce concerns about digital redlining, algorithmic discrimination, and the need for ethical, equitable AI governance.

Benjamin Hall, USC’s Business Librarian, discusses how AI’s rise risks undermining critical thinking; students must learn information, algorithmic, and AI literacy, with libraries leading interdisciplinary efforts to teach scrutiny, bias awareness, and responsible use.

Megan Jordan, USC’s VP of executive communication and strategic initiatives, discusses how her team built low-cost synthetic audiences to rapidly test messaging, refine sustainability outreach, and improve personas, using public data and iterative prompts to enhance accuracy and marketing insight.