Ahead of the AI Horizons Summit , Martial Hebert , dean of the School of Computer Science and a speaker at the conference, shared his perspective on physical AI - what it is, why it matters now and how it’s set to transform industries and create new opportunities.
Carnegie Mellon is helping define how artificial intelligence reshapes science - from accelerating discovery to scaling up new technologies.
Barbara Shinn-Cunningham , Glen de Vries Dean of the Mellon College of Science and a panelist at the AI Horizons Summit, shared her perspective on AI’s role in responsible biomanufacturing and automated science.
"We are in the midst of a sweeping societal and economic transformation, driven by unprecedented advances in technology. The growing power of artificial intelligence is perhaps the most important intellectual development of our time, with profound impacts on every sector of our economy as well as broad implications for our labor market, workforce and way of life. Our region has a vibrant constellation of research universities, national labs, and companies that can fuel the global race for AI talent and innovation and decisively secure the nation’s advantage in AI."
- Farnam Jahanian (president, Carnegie Mellon University)
"AI is revolutionizing science. At Carnegie Mellon, our researchers are harnessing advances in AI and automation and connecting these breakthrough technologies across virtual and physical worlds. These capabilities are reshaping how we discover, design and deploy new technologies, and are central to sustaining U.S. global leadership. By pushing the boundaries of what AI-enabled systems can do, we are creating transformative opportunities for science and industry and strengthening our nation’s capacity to lead in the decades ahead."
- Theresa Mayer (vice president for research)
Pittsburgh is at the center of the AI revolution - and we’re excited to help power it. #AIHorizons2025 features many Carnegie Mellon experts who are at the forefront of AI innovation and deployment.
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-- Carnegie Mellon University ( @cmu.edu ) September 10, 2025 at 3:15 PM
"AI is transforming the world, and reshaping industries across education, software development, healthcare, manufacturing, and beyond. In Pittsburgh, we are helping to build this transformation, taking the fundamental research happening at places like Carnegie Mellon, and bringing it to the world through our startups and our alumni."
-- Zico Kolter, p rofessor and director of the Machine Learning Department with the School of Computer Science
"Foundation models have demonstrated strong capabilities in learning medical knowledge from health care data and assisting providers in patient care. Examples include modeling risk in emergency departments, identifying rare diseases in medical images, and predicting cancer risks from longitudinal health care records. These findings highlight a compelling opportunity to transform health care and improve patient outcomes with AI. To realize this potential, we must develop effective and trustworthy health care foundation models, overcome data silos across health care settings, and ensure efficient, ethical governance of data and technology use in health care."
- Chenyan Xiong , associate professor, Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science
"Game designers have long used the term, ’playing within the Magic Circle,’ to describe the experiences they create as being special realms. These fictional realities temporarily suspend real-world rules, allowing players to escape within playful entertainment. However, what if these rules were not human-authored? What if these fictional realities- - the ’Magic Circle’ - were shared with nonhuman players? At the ETC we are exploring the new frontiers A.I. is helping to shape in gaming, virtual reality (XR) and in-person entertainment."
- Derek Ham (director, Entertainment Technology Center)
