Latest news with #AISymposium
Technical.ly
27-06-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh housing authority recruits AI to help with application backlogs
Pittsburgh's housing authority will begin using artificial intelligence to help its understaffed voucher department process thousands of applications from people in need of affordable housing. On Thursday, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) board approved payment of $160,392 to Boodskapper Inc., a private artificial intelligence company known as The company offers several services to automate housing authority work, which include reviewing and verifying certification packages from current voucher holders. The effort will begin as a one-year pilot program. Addressing concerns from the board members and a public speaker about the role the AI would play, HACP Executive Director Caster Binion stressed, 'The AI will not be in charge, not making decisions.' 'This will be used for recertifications specifically,' he added. Recertifications refer to updates affecting existing voucher holders, such as household income level and number of family members. Households with vouchers pay 30% of their income toward rent and utilities, with the balance covered by the HACP. The authority's Housing Choice Voucher Program Director Lashawna Hammond told the board the 'AI would scan recertification packets with their income and then it shows us on the back end if the packet is completed. So it's not processing, it's just doing preliminary work.' Approval of the pilot comes after Binion signaled in a meeting last year with City Council the authority would experiment with AI and other efforts to improve the efficiency of the voucher program. In 2020, PublicSource reported that the housing authority planned to 'enhance the voucher program,' but those efforts were hampered due to staffing shortages, according to the authority's leadership. Since then, steps have been taken to train new staff, according to Binion, who along with the board's former chair pledged improvements in 2022. Board member Charlise Smith worried that the program might take on human tendencies to discriminate against certain types of people. A public commenter at the board meeting echoed Smith's concerns. 'We all agree that increased efficiency is needed within the HCV Program to address administrative delays that limits the use of HCVs,' said Megan Hammond, a housing justice advocate and executive director of the Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh. 'AI is dependent upon the humans who create the AI. As a result, AI is susceptible to the continuation and scaling of fair housing concerns,' Hammond said, noting that the National Fair Housing Alliance created a Responsible AI Symposium that includes a framework for auditing algorithmic bias in these programs. Hammond called for 'greater transparency about the role of the proposed including checks and balances for applicants and voucher recipients to dispute inaccurate information.' She pressed for monthly public reports from the authority on the status of the Housing Choice Voucher waiting list every month along with information on where the authority allocates funds. Concerns over the use of AI in public housing has also reached the federal level. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development released guidelines for housing authorities across the country on best practices and uses of this new technology in an attempt to enforce the Fair Housing Act and prevent discrimination in housing. LaShawna Hammond maintained the program is needed to help with the backlog of recertification applications that threaten to overwhelm her staff. She noted that the system will be used to improve processing time and reduce clerical and user errors. She said the system will be able to detect missing information in the application and how that would trigger an automatic response to the client, letting them know that their application is incomplete. She said her department has 13 housing specialists, each averaging a caseload of 500. She said they hired five new housing specialists to start June 30 but it would take some time to train the new hires and bring them up to speed.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
WVU holds first AI Symposium for student researchers and faculty
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — West Virginia University held its first-ever AI Symposium on Thursday for student researchers and faculty who do AI-related work on campus. 'AI—I certainly don't have to tell anybody, it's everywhere,' said WVU Statler College Associate Dean of Research Xingbo Liu. Liu told 12 News that there's a lot of ongoing work regarding AI at WVU already, so organizers felt is was important to put together a symposium for WVU professionals to learn from each other regarding what they've done so far, and discuss what they can do in the future to collaborate in the area. 'AI is coming to you, you like [it] or not, right? And everything we do is AI,' Liu added. 'So we'd better know what can be done, how to use it in the right way to improve our lives.' Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Education Ming Lei explained to 12 News how attendees of Thursday's symposium included investigators and researchers, along with students working on AI in different colleges/departments. Presenters during the morning discussion included people from the WVU Health Sciences Center, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, and the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. During the afternoon, Lei stated that presenters were coming from law schools, chambers and the John Chambers College of Business and Economics. By having speakers from each of these different departments, Lei stated that the goal was to provide a wide spectrum of experts that can provide answers to a diverse set of questions. Following the symposium, Lei stated that the next step is to build collaborations to increase the impact of AI research on campus. 2 West Virginia fishing records broken on same day 'Basically, to get everybody together and have a sort of like a landscape survey,' said Lei. 'What we have and from here, what are the questions we're interested in.' According to Lei, organizers of the WVU AI Symposium wanted faculty and students to see real examples of how AI is changing everything. He said that everything has to start from somewhere and with this, all of the participants are able to get a better idea of who the other experts are on campus. 'That will be a good first step—a good foundation, to build collaborations,' said Lei. 'So that's one of the important takeaways.' Liu told 12 News that despite this being the first-ever AI Symposium on WVU's campus, the idea is not completely new today. He stated that over 40 years ago, WVU had its first AI project in the science department around 1981. 'We have been doing AI for [a] long time, but doing it piece by piece,' said Liu. 'Right now, we're just trying to say can we do a more [strategic] approach?' He added that WVU is hoping to have another AI Symposium in the future. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Experts discuss Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Symposium
HUNTSVILLE, Ala (WHNT) — Artificial intelligence, more commonly known as AI is one of our nation's hottest topics. That's no different here in North Alabama as the U.S. Space and Rocket Center hosted its second AI Symposium. Over 80 dogs taken to Lauderdale County shelter as part of cruelty investigation 'We all have a role to play in figuring out where we want AI to go and what we're comfortable with, and, crucially, what we're not comfortable with,' Andrew Miller said. He is a clinical lecturer of law from Yale Law School. Miller said we will soon see AI in the courtroom. 'So whether it's the judge side or the actual lawyer side, you're going to see AI playing a role throughout the legal system, and it's important that we decide again where we like that, where we don't, and how to regulate it,' he said. City council approves bid to demolish long-standing Florence parking deck When it comes to the fear of artificial intelligence replacing jobs, he wants people to think about what they can bring to the workforce as humans. 'I would encourage people who are worried about this not to change their minds, but to use this as an opportunity to, to think about the role they play, not just in their companies, but in their communities and where they, as humans really add value,' he said. Kristianna Berger is a student at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering. She was one of many who asked great questions. 'Learning how it's used in law and also how does that affect the workforce?' she asked. 'How is it going to, you know, we say replace our jobs…. is that really true and how is it going to affect our futures?' While our technology has come miles, even Miller said there is still a long way to go before we perfect Artificial Intelligence and all the questions it brings. 'The legal questions of how the responsibility works are really complicated and deserve serious, sustained attention,' Miller said. 'I think it'll take a little while before we figured out what we think the right answer is.' The symposium will continue through Thursday and walk-in registration is available if anyone would like to attend. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
