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Thorsten Joachims has been named vice provost for artificial intelligence strategy, a newly created position intended to bolster the Cornell AI Initiative. This new position further expands Cornell’s universitywide effort to advance leadership in research and education in AI, while creating, applying and evaluating AI as a tool across the university – from classrooms and laboratories to clinics and university processes. His appointment took effect Jan. 1.
Cornell Tech will introduce its first Summer Innovation Intensives program in July 2026, offering pre-college students an immersive experience in artificial intelligence, ethics, and entrepreneurship. The three-week program, scheduled for July 13-30 on Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island campus, is designed to give students a head start on college-level learning while tackling real-world challenges through technology. Students who are at least 15 years old and have completed their sophomore year of high school by the program start date are encouraged to apply.
A $10 million gift from Josh Kulkin ’01 to the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Sciences will bolster the university’s position as a world leader in foundational artificial intelligence research.
At 15, Tobias Weinberg lost the ability to speak – now as a Ph.D. student at Cornell Tech, he’s using AI to improve the technologies he and others with speech disabilities rely on to communicate.
A $1.8 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund will help the Cornell Lab of Ornithology develop acoustic sensors and artificial intelligence analytics to identify real-time threats to forests from illegal activities and provide insights into ecosystem health.
Cornell Tech hosted the inaugural Disability and Access in Tech and AI Summit on Oct. 9-10 on its Roosevelt Island campus, bringing together researchers, technologists, and community advocates to explore how disability and accessibility intersect with innovation. The summit welcomed speakers, students, faculty, alumni, and community members from Cornell’s Ithaca campus, New York City, and around the United States.
At the same time faculty are finding ways to use generative AI tools to help students learn, pen-and-paper assessments are returning to the classroom.
Using generative AI, fashion designers can use digital photos to adjust models’ features and even deploy fully digital avatars in place of humans. A team including an ILR School researcher has written a paper highlighting models’ challenges.
