Assistant Professor Kenneth Collins Named One-U Responsible AI Fellow

Assistant Professor Kenneth Collins has been named a faculty fellow for the University of Utah’s One-U Responsible AI initiative. According to One-U RAI, the fellowship program  “underscores the university’s commitment to rapidly advancing ethical, interdisciplinary AI research that addresses real-world challenges.” The fellowship comes with a financial award to continue research in addition access to further opportunities and services from RAI.

“I am truly honored to be an RAI Faculty Fellow,” said Collins. “It will enable me to help bridge the critical gap between technological advancement and artistic inquiry at the U, ensuring that creative perspectives shape how we understand and implement AI across disciplines.”

Collins teaches the “AI Filmmaking” course in the Department of Film & Media Arts, which he started in 2023, alongside the annual Deepfake Film Festival, which showcases student AI work. Since then, he has exhibited and performed AI-driven work at the Grand Palais Immersif in Paris, the Paris Biennale in Bangkok, the Prelude Festival in New York City, and the Centre of Contemporary Art in Toruń, Poland.

"Film & Media Arts is delighted and proud of Kenneth Collins' achievement in being awarded such a prestigious fellowship,” said Department of Film & Media Arts chair Professor Tim Palmer. “Our departmental mission is to engage media practices both old and new, established and emerging, and Kenneth's public-facing work puts him right at the cutting edge of the AI conversation, as it changes our perceptions of what motion artmaking might become next.”

Collins will use this fellowship to continue his work in using AI as an artistic and educational tool. The fellowship, he said “positions me to demonstrate that artistic practice is not peripheral but absolutely central to comprehending AI's profound impact on the future of human identity, creative expression, and society.”

“Kenneth's work as a Faculty Fellow will guide an important conversation about an ethical, communal, intentional usage of AI,” said Palmer. “As Chair I look forward with excitement to the collaborations and creativity that will come from this opportunity."