More than 200 academic researchers and business professionals gathered on The Ohio State University’s Columbus campus for the inaugural Artificial Intelligence Business Conference, hosted by the Fisher College of Business at Pfahl Hall. Centered on the theme “Human-in-the-Loop Artificial Intelligence: Enabling Responsible and Impactful Human-AI Collaboration,” the two-day event explored how the technology is reshaping education and the workforce. Fisher’s interim dean, Aravind Chandrasekaran, emphasized the need to track rapid advances and collaborate with industry partners to understand and co-create responsible applications.
In opening remarks, Executive Vice President and Provost Ravi V. Bellamkonda said the conference advances Ohio State’s Artificial Intelligence Fluency initiative. Launched this year, the initiative embeds Artificial Intelligence education into the undergraduate curriculum to prepare students to use tools and to understand, question, and innovate with them. Bellamkonda described a “bilingual” approach in which domain expertise in fields such as health, business, political science, or literature is paired with fluency in Artificial Intelligence to unlock the technology’s potential responsibly.
Keynote speaker Mary Strain, who leads Amazon Web Services’ strategy for Artificial Intelligence and machine learning in the U.S. public sector, described Ohio State as a leader in using Artificial Intelligence to streamline operations and expand access. She cited the university’s work with an AWS cloud innovation center to develop an open-source solution that helps institutions meet new federal accessibility standards for PDF documents taking effect in April 2026, a tool now being used by dozens of universities.
Another keynote by New York University professor Anindya Ghose underscored the role of universities in training students not only to use Artificial Intelligence, but also to apply critical thinking to verify outputs from generative systems. Pairing Artificial Intelligence fluency with analytical rigor, he said, will make graduates more competitive as the technology affects jobs, including those held by the youngest workers.
In a panel discussion, Susan White, chief data and analytics officer at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, detailed the rollout of an Artificial Intelligence tool known as ambient listening that securely generates confidential patient records. The system reduced physicians’ cognitive load, increased face-to-face engagement during visits, and delivered measurable time savings per appointment, alongside higher patient satisfaction.
The program also featured research presentations from Ohio State students, faculty, and staff, as well as peers from universities nationwide, addressing educational benefits and ethical considerations. Erin McKie, an assistant professor of operations and business analytics at Fisher, received the Best Presentation Award in the junior faculty category. Chandrasekaran said Fisher intends to continue the conference annually to tackle opportunities and challenges from multiple perspectives.
