AI Research & Discovery at KU

Across the University of Kansas, researchers, educators, and clinicians are advancing artificial intelligence research that addresses real-world challenges. Their work spans learning, accessibility, healthcare, and the responsible design and governance of emerging technologies.

Education & Inclusive Innovation

KU has built strong national momentum at the intersection of AI, learning sciences, and accessibility.

Achievement & Assessment Institute (AAI)

AAI serves as a central home for many of KU’s AI enabled education and learning science initiatives, supporting applied research, large scale evaluation, and partnerships with schools and communities.

Examples of AI enabled education and learning science work include:

ATLAS (Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems)
- Develops AI driven and adaptive assessment systems that support accessibility and improve how learning is measured for students with diverse needs.
CIDDL (Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning)
- Advances research and guidance on the use of AI and educational technology in special education, educator preparation, and professional learning.
FLITE (Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology & Education)
- Explores innovative and emerging uses of AI to design and study next generation digital learning environments and instructional practices.

Life Span Institute (LSI)

Through collaborative research, the Life Span Institute seeks solutions to improve human health, development and quality of life. It is home to AI applications across the fields of education, intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, child development, and literacy, among many other areas.

Examples of AI enabled research and innovation include:

Center for Research on Learning (CRL)
- Applies AI enabled approaches to strengthen writing, literacy, and social skill development through evidence based educational interventions and adaptive feedback.

Ethics, Security & Social Dynamics

KU Researchers are actively engaged in examining how AI and data-driven technologies shape society and how they can be developed and used responsibly.

Center for Cyber Social Dynamics (CCSD): Located within the Institute for Information Sciences, CCSD studies how AI and internet technologies influence human behavior, culture, and online safety.

STEP Lab (Society, Technology, Ethics, and Philosophy Lab) A research lab within CCSD that bring philosophical and ethical perspectives to AI research, helping inform responsible design, governance, and public understanding of emerging technologies.

Precision Medicine & Health AI

At the KU Medical Center, AI research is contributing to more reliable, interpretable, and clinically meaningful tools for healthcare and biomedical discovery.

The Enhanced AI Center for Human Focused Research

The Enhanced AI Center supports research that impacts human health and well-being. It helps researchers access advanced computing capabilities, cloud resources, AI tools, and expertise to accomplish research that spans areas from basic to translational science, across the continuum of biomedical discovery to enhancing public health. The Enhanced AI Center supports several research programs:

AI in Health Communication - Using generative AI to create community focused precision health communication, address health misinformation, and translate complex research findings into polain language to improve health literacy.
AI and Research in Cardiovascular Medicine - Using AI to improve interpretation of cardiovascular diagnostic data.
AI, Informatics, and Innovation in Radiology - Using AI to create biomarkers from clinical imaging.
AI Enhanced Sleep Medicine - A multidisciplinary research program applying machine learning, transformer-based models, and large language models to polysomnographic signals and electronic health records to advance the identification, phenotyping, and clinical management of sleep disorders.

Explore AI Research Spotlights to learn how researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center and The University of Kansas Health System are using artificial intelligence.

Interdisciplinary AI

AI research at KU is supported by cross-cutting technical expertise and research infrastructure across engineering, computer science, and information sciences, as well as contributions from the humanities, social sciences, and professional disciplines.

Together, these efforts establish KU as a significant and expanding presence in artificial intelligence research, spanning foundational, translational, and interdisciplinary work with impact across education, health, and the public good.