From Campus to Capitol

UofL First-Year Student Ben Shar Brings Accountability to AI

While many students new to university life focus on navigating the changes of being on a college campus, first-year undergraduate business student Ben Shar is focusing on navigating the changing landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), sharing his research on a national level about the ethical concerns of AI advancement alongside students from some of the most prestigious universities across the nation. From representing the University of Louisville at the Center for AI Policy (CAIP) inaugural Demo Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, mentoring under Changlin Li as part of his movement to establish AI safety awareness and striving to establish collegiate chapters of his student organization, the AI Safety and Ethics Foundation (ASEF), Shar is deep diving into deep learning and sharing information on the potential societal impacts of this rapidly-advancing technology.

Growing a Movement

In his first semester at UofL, Shar established himself as a student leader, focusing on the ethical use of AI through the creation of ASEF. Within a short period, more students began to join his group, including J.B. Speed School of Engineering PhD student Severin Field. Soon after, Shar developed a satellite chapter at Bowling Green State University, and another chapter of the organization is in development at the University of Cincinnati, along with two high schools in New York and California. “I’ve been really focusing on creating a hub for AI safety across colleges nationally, so that’s been pretty exciting,” he shared.

Determined to further the growth of not only his student organization but his professional future, during the fall 2024 semester, Shar learned of Changlin Li, co-founder of the AI Safety Awareness Foundation, after hearing him speak at a virtual town hall event for the organization Pause AI and learning of his interest in working with students. “He mentioned, ‘I have to go convince these UWash students that [this] is serious.’ I noticed he’s presented to collegiate students [and] that’s [who] I’m directly trying to reach out to. So, I sent him an email asking if we could schedule a meeting,” he explained. “I worked with him over the winter on his AI safety initiative, and we scheduled a giant workshop day, National AI Safety Day, where we got around 20 colleges to participate across the nation,” he explained. “We went over this demo called Civ AI. It shows phishing, [and] it shows how it can be used for political manipulation, voice cloning [and] deepfakes.”

Exhibiting Caution

Due to his connection with Li and growing relationship with other AI ethics organizational leaders, Shar and Field were encouraged to apply to participate in the launch of CAIP’s first-ever Demo Day, along with student representatives from higher education institutions across the nation, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Brown University and Notre Dame. The team presented data to congressional staff and legislators such as Illinois Congressional Representative Bill Foster. While several other student teams focused on the potential risks of the rapid technological advancement of AI, such as weaponization of the technology or how AI misinformation could escalate a natural disaster crisis, Shar and Field’s goal was broader in scope, bringing attention to “What Experts Say About Catastrophic Risks” in terms of the ethical choices we are making with AI advancement. “It was a quantitative version of a qualitative presentation,” explained Shar. “We did a literature review based on [several] surveys of AI experts, and we found that the median AI researcher says that human-level AI will come by 2033…and there is a 10% chance of extinction, which is definitely not trivial.” He went on to note that “over time, timelines decrease. Four years ago, the median AI researcher said that human-level AI would come in 2070 [or] 2080. So, we have reason to expect that [timeline] will just keep decreasing and we will probably see human-level AI a lot sooner than we think.”

Envisioning the Future

Looking forward to the ways in which his organization can collaborate and grow within the field of AI ethics advancement, in particular CAIP, Shar hopes to become one of the founding members of the organization’s plans to develop a collegiate network. “They’ve just started…making a new policy advocacy network specifically for college AI safety teams. I did apply for a leadership council position, [and I’ll] see if I get that. But it’s good to know that my goals pretty much perfectly aligned with theirs.”

While Shar noted how his computer information systems (CIS) and management courses aided him throughout his experience on Capitol Hill, the knowledge gained from his economics courses and AI research endeavor has nurtured a growing interest in the field of economics and finance, particularly that of equity research. Now, he’s considering a pivot in his academic course of study. “I’m taking economics right now… and [some] people say that micro and macroeconomics aren’t really that useful to learn, but I think it’s probably the most important thing to know. It’s encouraged me to just overall think more about economic implications of AI and helped me to have theoretical discussions…at the expo.”

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