Michael Crow giving the keynote speech at ASU AI Day

AI Day at ASU showcases AI innovations at scale

ASU President Michael Crow says he plans to design a university empowering AI as a tool for all learners.

JOYCELYN MUÑOZ

September 16, 2025

Philosophy, sports, foods and even video games all found their way into ASU President Michael M. Crow’s keynote as he kicked off AI Day at ASU. All lended as examples towards a more central theme: the future of higher education is inseparable from the rise of AI.

On Monday, September 15, nearly 500 ASU faculty, staff and students gathered on the Tempe campus for the inaugural AI Day at ASU. This university-wide event surfaced the impactful ways ASU students, faculty and staff are leading in AI advancement, while creating space for meaningful dialogue and discovery.

“As humans, we live to learn, we live to adapt, and we live to modify,” said Crow in his opening remarks. “[AI] is just a tool – it is nothing but a calculator, calculating things that we can’t calculate. It's not about the machine, it's about the question.”

In a fireside chat between Crow and ASU Executive Director and Professor Danielle McNamara, Crow said, “There’s an S-curve in innovation, of organizations, of tools, of technologies. AI today is in its earliest stages. We are a learning creature. We’re an innovating animal. All of these things are accelerating in every possible way.”

Breaking news: ASU and OpenAI expand collaboration, scaling AI to advance student success, research and innovation. Starting Oct. 1, ASU students, faculty, researchers and staff can access licenses to ChatGPT Edu at no cost to the individual.

Following the keynote, participants broke out into sessions led by ASU faculty and staff. One such breakout session, the “AI Playground,” tackles the issue of adaptation.

The session was led by a trio of ASU AI leaders including: ASU Associate Director of Intelligent Learning Systems Janel White-Taylor, graduate student Samantha Clark, and AI Learning Strategist Jennifer Werner.

The “AI Playground,” a website curated for educators and students unfamiliar with AI tools, is designed to empower participants with the knowledge and skills needed to seamlessly integrate AI into the educational process.

The goal of the portal is to simplify the exploration of AI, making 11 different categories of tools accessible and engaging to all users. Tools on the site included animation, chat experiences, and design.

“We wanted to create a program as a way to get people started,” said White-Taylor. “A place to get started.”

Perhaps most popular was the AI-Focused Expo: an ASU exhibition filled with interactive AI demos, research posters and project presentations. The expo included over 25 booths, ranging from data analysis toolkits to various AI companions developed by students, faculty and staff.

ASU Next Lab’s “Digital Human Twin” was presented by Dan Munnerley. In this demo, an avatar plays the role of a patient, with detailed facial motion and AI-synced lip movements taken from live and recorded video.

The virtual patient uses hand-tracking and voice commands to mirror real-world stroke assessment practices to replicate a real-life assessment for student healers to practice.

Munnerley shared the role of collaboration across ASU to develop these avatars, includingEdgeAI/SolarSPELL, the Mayo Clinic Stroke Assessment and EngageXR.

Across the expo hall, the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative asked AI Day participants to chat with RiverBot, an AI agent who has the answers to every pressing question about water, the environment, and conservation efforts. “Hi, I am a River. I am here to explore the water with you!” said RiverBot.

The agent uses retrieval methods, response synthesis, and output evaluation to answer questions from the user.

Between expo time blocks, the final keynote of the day welcomed Claire Zau, AI Lead at GSV Ventures. Zau’s keynote expanded AI insights reaching across industry and the globe by sharing insights into AI education and the marketplace.

“Where we are today is that in-between, between generative AI and agentic AI,” Zau said. “AI is everywhere. It is embedded.”

Zau highlighted the present use of AI, and the incoming real-time evolution of the future with AI tools. Several use cases for AI in education included: AI Tutors, Teacher CoPilots, Career Navigation, Study Aids, Research Copilots, Language Learning, Early Literacy, Content Generation, Knowledge Management, and Assessment.

“There is no way to avoid AI,” Zau said. From the finance sector, to big tech, and especially in higher education, the increasing use of AI in the workforce emphasizes the need to embrace AI in student learning.

Looking forward, Zau discussed the importance of using AI as a coach and a collaborator, rather than a crutch. And as AI evolves, so will student learning development.

Zau plans to return to Arizona next month to present at Agentic AI and the Student Experience. This global gathering of 500 education and industry leaders is being hosted by ASU and its partners to chart the future of agentic AI in education.

The sentiment echoes Crow’s earlier expressions of AI-enhanced learning development. “This tool allows us to think, and dream, and advance in more comprehensive ways.”