Boeing Awards UTA Researchers AI Grant

Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) have received a new grant from Boeing to help the company understand future learning environments where new technologies such as bots, robots, and artificial intelligence (AI) are active participants in teams alongside workers.

"A lot of companies are facing a challenge to reskill their employees for an environment where they need to collaborate with technology, not just use it," said George Siemens, executive director of UTA's Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge (LINK) Research Lab.

Smart bots like Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Siri already are being incorporated into social environments as a resource and support in the daily lives of millions of people. As AI improves, these bots are expected to be working with employees in integrated teams, with the bots able to act not only as an assistants but also as a key team members, providing analysis and input.

"It will be like human-plus, a resource with more capacity than only humans working as part of the team," Siemens said. "Whole new skill sets will be needed for employees."

During the next year, Siemens and his team will develop a series of papers and reports for Boeing on how new knowledge and learning technologies are being developed and deployed in both university and corporate environments.

The team also will present Boeing leadership with findings detailing the organizational implications of new ways of learning and acquiring knowledge, and what impact that could have on an organization's culture.

LINK Research Lab engages researchers, educators, and graduate students to connect, share, and collaborate in advancing social and technological networks, designing future learning models and exploring the future of higher education.