Technologies that use artificial intelligence (AI) have become ubiquitous. AI technologies have produced numerous economic and social benefits, such as rapidly and reliably assisting radiologists with accurate diagnostic interpretations of medical images. Many harms of AI have also been documented, such as racial biases in predictive models used in the criminal justice system, and gender discrimination in automated screening of job applications. Some AI technologies have exacerbated biases that disproportionately affect historically marginalized communities, such as LGBTQ populations and members of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. Generative AI technologies are now widely available, and the potential harms are substantial: although anyone can use ChatGPT to draft messages and DALL-E to create artwork, others can use these tools to quickly produce deceptive news stories with specious images—misinformation that can spread quickly through social media.

AI technologies deployed in industry today are far more powerful than the early AI technologies created in university laboratories. We ask: What roles can the university now play in the socially responsible development and use of AI technologies? While many industrial organizations and governments have published statements of principles for social responsibility with AI technologies, we go beyond statements of principles to recommendations for actions by universities, particularly those in the U.S.

Since the first colleges were established in America in the 17th and 18th centuries, the purposes and missions of colleges and universities have evolved. The original mission of education has expanded beyond a fixed curriculum for upper-class youth to a multitude of subjects for all social classes. In the 19th century, universities added missions of research and public service. In the 20th century, many universities adopted missions of community engagement and economic development—the latter after the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 accelerated the commercialization of technologies developed at universities. With a great diversity of institutions in the U.S., different universities place different emphases on these missions. Here, we focus on four questions connected with the university missions of education, research, community engagement, and public service.

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