UW Tacoma faculty awarded NSF funding to continue their work in privacy-preserving AI
April 27, 2026
The National Science Foundation awarded UW Tacoma one of its 35 National Artificial Intelligence Resource (NAIRR) Pilot Awards, granting access to advanced computational resources to support AI research. Martine De Cock and Paulo Barreto are using the resources to advance their research in privacy-preserving AI, focusing on synthetic data generation for AI systems without compromising…
AI@UW awards 36 SEED-AI grants in its inaugural funding call
April 14, 2026
AI@UW announced today the award of 36 SEED‑AI grants to individual faculty members and faculty teams, collectively representing 19 schools and colleges across all three University of Washington campuses. Each funded project received an award of up to $50,000. SEED‑AI grants are designed to support UW faculty‑led, exploratory projects that thoughtfully apply artificial intelligence to…
UW and Microsoft deepen collaboration to expand access, innovation and AI skills
April 6, 2026
The University of Washington and Microsoft have announced an expanded partnership to accelerate AI research, increase access to advanced computing and prepare students, workers and communities for an AI‑driven economy. The collaboration will broaden hands‑on research and internship opportunities, enhance AI education and literacy statewide and support workforce transitions through new courses and applied learning…
UW researchers develop a new method for training AI systems to predicts users’ preferences
March 31, 2026
University of Washington researchers have developed a new AI training method called "variational preference learning" (VPL) to improve how AI systems reflect diverse user values. Traditional AI models, trained using reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), often inherit the biases and preferences of their trainers, which may not align with the diverse values of all…
AI@UW launch brings more than 200 UW faculty, staff together for a day of learning
March 2, 2026
The AI@UW Launch offered a day of workshops, a panel, and a keynote examining the role of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. More than 200 faculty and staff gathered on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, to navigate how educators can empower students and strengthen critical thinking in a time where AI increasingly plays a role…
UW researchers have developed a system for detecting subtle biases in AI models
February 19, 2026
University of Washington researchers are exploring potential biases in AI hiring systems, focusing on race and caste biases in eight large language models (LLMs), including proprietary ChatGPT models and open-source Llama models. Such research is particularly relevant given LinkedIn’s recent introduction of its Hiring Assistant, an AI tool designed to automate repetitive recruiting tasks, such…
Improving healthcare outcomes with AI while balancing ethics and accountability
February 11, 2026
Yingfei Wang (pictured), an assistant professor of Information Systems at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business, envisions a healthcare system that combines human intuition and algorithmic precision. Her research currently focuses on developing reinforcement learning (RL) models to crunch patient’s data and generate personalized care plans. RL models differ from other algorithms by…
AI@UW to host an initiative launch event on February 17, 2026
January 28, 2026
Faculty and staff from across the University of Washington are invited to gather on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at the Husky Union Building for a daylong event focused on the future of teaching in an era shaped by artificial intelligence. As AI tools become commonplace in students’ academic and creative work, the event will explore…
Inside AI at the UW: A conversation with Noah Smith (Part 3)
January 20, 2026
In a three-part interview, vice provost and endowed chair for artificial intelligence, Noah Smith, addresses the University of Washington’s role and responsibility in the development and ethical use of AI, preparing students for careers and funding support for projects that explore how artificial intelligence can enhance teaching and learning. In this third installment, Smith addresses…
Inside AI at the UW: A conversation with Noah Smith (Part 2)
January 13, 2026
In a three-part interview, vice provost and endowed chair for artificial intelligence, Noah Smith, addresses the University of Washington’s role and responsibility in the development and ethical use of AI, preparing students for careers and funding support for projects that explore how artificial intelligence can enhance teaching and learning. In this second installment, Smith addresses…
Inside AI at the UW: A conversation with Noah Smith (Part 1)
January 6, 2026
As the UW’s first vice provost and endowed chair for artificial intelligence, Noah Smith is guiding the University’s efforts to further position ourselves as a model for how universities can responsibly and creatively adapt to the age of AI in our academic mission and in administration and governance. By leading the University-wide AI@UW initiative, vice…
AI@UW announces SEED-AI 2026 grants, with awards of up to $50,000 available
December 8, 2025
The University of Washington AI@UW Initiative is now accepting proposals for the Supporting Educational Excellence and Discovery with AI Grants (SEED-AI 2026). Faculty and teaching staff can apply for grants ranging from $1,000 to $50,000 to fund projects that explore how artificial intelligence can enhance teaching and learning. Applications are due February 1, 2026, with…
UW names Noah Smith endowed chair and vice provost for AI
November 1, 2025
The University of Washington has named Noah Smith, professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and senior director of Natural Language Processing research at the Allen Institute for AI, as the University’s first vice provost and endowed chair for Artificial Intelligence. He brings more than 20 years of experience in…
UW research finds that ChatGPT displays resume bias against those with disabilities
October 22, 2025
A recent study conducted by University of Washington researchers explored how AI tools like ChatGPT may introduce bias when ranking resumes that include disability-related credentials. The researchers found that ChatGPT consistently ranked resumes with disability-related awards lower than identical resumes without such honors, reflecting ableist stereotypes, such as claiming people with autism are less capable…
Inaugural UW exposition showcases responsible AI research
September 18, 2025
The University of Washington’s first Responsibility in Artificial Intelligence Systems and Experiences (RAISE) Winter Exhibition highlighted pertinent research on responsible artificial intelligence, featuring work from four Information School Ph.D. students. Hosted at the Paul G. Allen Center, the event highlighted how AI has increasingly affected everyday life — emphasizing the critical need for responsible development.…
UW AI model offers the potential for breakthroughs in systemic disease diagnosis
August 12, 2025
Physicians sometimes make mistakes when analyzing medical images. Systemic diseases, such as lupus and diabetes, require multiple types of medical images to support diagnoses, leaving a higher margin for human error in detection. While image detection software often tackles object recognition, detection and segmentation separately, BiomedParse unifies these three crucial steps of detection, offering a…