Sophomore Samarth Gupta ‘26 stood in front a room filled with business leaders at Hartford AI Day and explained why artificial intelligence can dramatically improve everyday life.

MIT has created ICU Intervene, which predicts what treatments will be most effective for critically ill patients, he said. Paypal uses AI to analyze transactions to curtail cybersecurity fraud. And Amazon is using image detection to support a ‘smart store,’ which eliminates the need to wait in checkout lines.

Gupta, a computer science and engineering major, is a student leader at the School of Business’ Innovate Labs, which encourages students to experiment with a variety of emerging technology, from drones to virtual reality.

But Wednesday he was also an instructor, displaying a passion for data and AI that will likely make him an attractive candidate to future employers.

“When I think about AI, I’m frightened and excited at the same time,’’ Gupta said, following his presentation with fellow sophomore Anthony Prior. “AI, like everything unknown, is scary, and people are worried about its impact on jobs. But this AI Day was a great opportunity to meet and learn from others. I want to be a part of it. I think it is interesting to see where we’re headed as a civilization.’’

AI-Savvy College Students are Entering Workforce with Distinct Advantage

Jon Moore, executive director of the School of Business’ Connecticut Information Technology Institute’s Digital Frontiers Initiative, was bursting with pride when he saw the presentations by his students, which followed those by a host of professionals. As a faculty member, Moore has been instrumental in creating Innovate Labs which introduces students to emerging tech.

“These students are so knowledgeable, bright, thoughtful and inquisitive,’’ said Moore. “They really are going to shape the future of technology and business.’’

The students are coming into such a new field that they aren’t competing with people who have done this for 25 years, Moore said. Their future is virtually unlimited, he said.

Digital Frontiers Initiative (DFI) offers research, partnership and workforce development for companies.

Some 20 companies approached Moore and DFI academic director Wei Chen at Wednesday’s conference, seeking advice, partnership, research, or more information. “We were eager to co-sponsor AI Day and to get the message out to companies about how we can help them,’’ Moore said.

“There is just incredible demand. People loved seeing what our students are learning,’’ Moore said, adding that he expects emerging technology will be part of every high school and college curriculum soon.

“In industry, this is moving so fast. This conference was very helpful as we learned more about the challenges that companies are facing,’’ he said.

Chen, who, like Moore is part of the Operations and Information Management Department at the School of Business, said he expects to see dramatic changes in image recognition, workflow, and video generation this year. He often hears concerns about how AI will impact the workplace.

“I don’t think there is an industry that won’t be impacted,’’ Chen said. “Some jobs will change, but new jobs will be created.’’ There were no air traffic controllers or gene editors until innovation gave rise to those specialties, he said.

At UConn, faculty are creating an AI course for business graduate students, which will launch next semester. They are also expanding the Innovate Labs, now currently only in Storrs, and adding it to campuses in Stamford and, ultimately, Hartford.

Students Introduce Business Leaders to Chatbots

Following Gupta’s presentation, sophomore Reis Muccino ’26 and freshmen Sophia Hatzis ’27 taught business professionals how to use machine learning to create a Chatbot. They showed each participant how to capture images of themselves smiling, frowning, and with a shocked expression, and then how to train the computer model to recognize facial expressions.

Chris Saunders, a lead developer at Insurity, said creating his own Chatbot was a great deal of fun and a good introduction to AI, something he wants to learn more about.

Some 370 people attended Hartford AI Day on Wednesday at the School of Business’ Graduate Business Learning Center in Downtown Hartford. Now in its third year, the program drew record attendance of industry experts, business leaders and students.

Sponsored by Launc[H]artford and Capgemini, the event drew speakers from Otis Elevator, Hartford Healthcare, and multiple businesses in the insurance and financial sector.

“We designed Hartford AI Day to create an environment for learning, strengthening our community, and for inspiration,’’ said Michelle Cote, director at Launc[H] and one of the event organizers. “This year we saw the energy from everyone involved reach a whole new scale. It was remarkable to witness peer-to-peer mentorship, exchange of insights, and collaboration percolate throughout the day.’’

Other key speakers included alumnus Pete Sena, Founder of Digital Surgeons, Dan O’Keefe, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and Paul Drennan, Senior Vice President and Chief Data Science Officer at The Hartford.

‘Challenges We Can Go and Solve’

Graduate student Geetha Sree ’24, who will earn her master’s degree in Business Analytics and Project Management in May, was thrilled to be attending the event. She is interested in retail and e-commerce.

“It was a great event and I enjoyed the skill-building. I’m excited about the business implications and the challenges that we can go and solve,’’ she said. “When I go through job descriptions for data science, they are looking for employees who are familiar with AI. Even without extensive experience, you already have an advantage.’’

She said her fellow graduate students are excited about the future and many of whom are eager to apply artificial intelligence to the insurance and financial services.

“For me, I think that data is exciting and I want to use it to recommend the right products and tailor things to the customers’ needs.’’