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Testing AI against public health’s existing tools
A researcher holding a vaccine vial and a smartphone.

Some of the study’s participants interacted with a chatbot that answered questions about the HPV vaccine, while others read standard public health materials about the vaccine.

(Image: Sylvia Zhang)

Testing AI against public health’s existing tools

A collaborative research team at Penn looks at when, how, and to what extent AI enhances public health communications through a randomized controlled trial of AI-powered chatbots and parental vaccine hesitancies.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

A ‘breakthrough’ to restore memory
an implantable, handheld therapy device

Michael Kahana and colleagues have created an implantable therapy device to treat memory loss in adult patients with traumatic brain injuries. Results of studies about the device’s effectiveness have been promising, and this past March the FDA gave it “Breakthrough Device Designation.”

(Image: Or Barak)

A ‘breakthrough’ to restore memory

After decades of research and discovery, Michael Kahana in the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues are closer than ever to an AI-guided device to treat memory loss.

2 min. read

Paving the way for safer roads
Drone shot of Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Boulevard.

(Image: Julio Cortez via AP Images)

Paving the way for safer roads

An interdisciplinary team of Penn engineers and urban planners has taken an innovative approach to creating a drivable digital twin of Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Boulevard, a significant public health threat to the tens of thousands of people who use it each day.

2 min. read

Can AI help cities get a handle on urban heat?
Everett Clayton looks at a digital thermometer on a nearby building that reads 116 degrees while walking to his apartment on June 27, 2021 in Vancouver, Washington.

(Image: Nathan Howard via AP Images)

Can AI help cities get a handle on urban heat?

Weitzman’s Xiaojiang Li is using artificial intelligence tools to provide more granular information about urban environments in order to optimize solutions for mitigating extreme heat.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

Opening AI’s black box
Danae Metaxa and the cover of their book “Auditing AI”

Danaé Metaxa is the Raj and Neera Singh Term Assistant Professor in Computer and Information Science at Penn Engineering.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering)

Opening AI’s black box

Penn Engineering’s Danaé Metaxa on AI audits and how their lab at Penn Engineering is working to make AI systems more accountable.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Ex-Philly Fed chair is back at Wharton and on a quest to save the world financial system


Ex-Philly Fed chair is back at Wharton and on a quest to save the world financial system


“Will AI improve productivity? It better,” says Patrick Harker of the Wharton School. “Our birth rate is not replacing ourselves. Our immigration policy has flatlined. It’s the most basic rule of economics: If you want more output, you either get more workers, or better machines.”

How AI could make autism screening more accessible
A child follows movements from a video in a clinical office setting.

CAMI-2DNet builds on a series of studies that have steadily moved computerized motor imitation assessment closer to clinical use.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering)

How AI could make autism screening more accessible

Penn Engineers have built an AI-powered system designed to gauge children’s ability to imitate body motions using video, offering a new and effective way to assess for autism.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

Rising opposition to data centers is nonpartisan, Penn survey finds

Rising opposition to data centers is nonpartisan, Penn survey finds

“We asked these folks earlier in the year about their attitudes toward AI and data centers, and while their attitudes about AI generally didn’t really change very much, their attitudes about data centers did quite a bit,” says Matthew Levendusky of the Annenberg School for Communication, School of Arts & Sciences, and Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Surveys find most Americans use AI, but mistrust it

Surveys find most Americans use AI, but mistrust it

“People can use AI at work and think it saves them time but still think it’s a net negative for society,” says Matthew Levendusky of the Annenberg School for Communication, School of Arts & Sciences, and Annenberg Public Policy Center. “These technologies have all emerged so quickly that none of us have fully unpacked their true costs and benefits.”