ASU celebrates Cybersecurity Awareness Month at annual Digital Trust Summit

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how society lives, learns and works and it's not showing signs of slowing down — the expected annual growth rate for industries is 37.3% from now to 2030. 

With this in mind, education leaders, enthusiasts, technologists and faculty, as well as students, must navigate the frontiers of this rapidly advancing technology while looking at AI acceleration through the lens of trust and privacy. Why? Because digital trust matters – in a 2022 McKinsey & Company survey, 72% of respondents said that knowing a company’s AI policies is important before they make a purchase. 

“Every day we’re learning more about the power of AI to enhance our lives, and each interaction gives us an opportunity to shape how we create and use AI,” said Dr. Donna Kidwell, chief information security digital trust offer at Arizona State University (ASU) and host of the Digital Trust Summit. “We know it can be powerful, our challenge is to make it trustworthy, too!”

At ASU, the university is paving the way when it comes to advancing AI – especially generative AI – to enhance higher education with novel educational experiences. Creating spaces for conversation about the intersection of digital trust and AI is essential to press forward. Some examples of how ASU is doing so include launching its AI Acceleration team that is committed to creating the next generation of AI tools and forming a Generative AI Community of Practice to explore opportunities for higher education to evolve through the strategic implementation of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies at ASU. 

"We take pride in our principled approach to innovation, differentiating ourselves in the AI and higher education landscape," said Lev Gonick, ASU's chief information officer. "Our focus is on delivering tangible outcomes and creating change guided by values and ethical understanding  to positively impact the ASU community and beyond."

As institutions develop their stance on generative AI, ASU remains committed to advancing progress through partnership. At ASU’s third annual Digital Trust Summit on Tuesday, October 17, the university is expanding the conversation of AI globally by hosting an event centered around digital trust in an accelerating age of AI.

Digital Trust Summit attendees will participate both in person at ASU’s Tempe campus and online, putting digital trust and ethics at the heart of discussion. The agenda is jam-packed with thought leaders and experts in the space, covering topics like: 

• The impact of generative AI in higher education
• Designing the future of AI in education
• Helping students and staff traverse the opportunities and challenges of AI and privacy

Allison Hall, senior director of Learning Experience at ASU’s Enterprise Technology and Summit panel moderator asked, “Stewart Brand said ‘information wants to be free.’ — what does this mean for the future of AI in education?” During her panel’s session on the designing the future of AI in education, speakers will discuss futurecasting and threatcasting for the rapid adoption of AI, rethinking “ownership”, and the development of trusted sentience. “If we are accelerating AI, what are we accelerating into,” added Hall.

And, for the first time, Dr. Kidwell and the Summit planning team will welcome the digital trust community to Arizona, which will increase opportunities for both networking and for interactive programming. Attendees will explore digital trust in new ways, like Dr. Kelly Page’s hands-on keynote address on the importance of community when co-designing for digital trust in the age of AI. Participants can also complement their Summit experience with an opening reception at 1951 at ASU SkySong the night before the event, and with a personalized experience at ASU’s Drone Studio, the largest of its kind in higher education.

A limited live-stream option is available for our global audience who cannot attend the Summit in Arizona.

“The Digital Trust Summit is the highlight of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, when we celebrate ways to keep us safe online,” said Dr. Kidwell. “Join us throughout the month on the campus for practical tips and advice, and at the Summit to discuss considerations for more trustworthy applications of AI.”

The Digital Trust Summit will take place on Tuesday, October 17 from 9:00a.m. - 12:00p.m. MST at Walton Planetarium and online. 

Learn more about the Digital Trust Summit from 2021 and 2022.