Carolina researchers share AI work, predictions

Artificial Intelligence is shaping the future in higher education and beyond. Carolina is committed to using the evolving technology in responsible ways for students, faculty and staff.

From health care to machine learning, four Carolina experts broke down how they think AI will change their respective fields over the next decade.

Kandyce Brennan

Clinical assistant professor, UNC School of Nursing 

Tell us about your research. 

My work focuses on integrating AI-enabled tools to improve patient-centered care, enhance educational outcomes and promote health equity, ensuring technology supports humanistic and compassionate health care practices.

I’m leading a project that exemplifies these principles by developing SARHAchat, an AI-enabled chatbot designed to provide sexual and reproductive health education and support to young adults in rural and underserved communities.

 How do you see AI affecting your field in the next decade? 

In the next five years, I expect AI in health care will shift from experimental tools to trusted partners in care delivery, especially for underserved populations. The key evolution won’t just be in the technology’s capabilities, but in our understanding of how to implement it equitably.

Looking 10 years ahead, I envision AI fundamentally reshaping health care accessibility. We’ll likely see AI systems that can provide personalized health education and support that adapts to individual literacy levels, cultural backgrounds and communication preferences.

Francesca Tripodi

Lead faculty, Master of Applied Data Science, UNC School of Data Science and Society; associate professor, UNC School of Information and Library Science 

Tell us about your research. 

My research focuses on how generative AI is reshaping the way people search for information. Together with my collaborators at the Search Prompt Integrity and Learning Lab, we are exploring how people come to trust information curated by GenAI, analyzing the sources AI-Overviews rely on and investigating how biases or inaccuracies on one platform can undermine the integrity of these results.

 How do you see AI affecting your field in the next decade? 

“AI” is both a concept and a tool impacting many facets of human life — labor, education and decision-making. I reject the notion that AI is “taking over” and rendering humans obsolete. The future of AI depends less on the technology itself and more on how corporations and governments choose to invest in human infrastructure. Humans created the foundations of AI, the companies applying it and the policies that regulate it. To understand how AI will evolve, we must look critically at these human actions — and the power structures that drive them.

Youzou Lin

Associate professor, UNC School of Data Science and Society 

Tell us about your research. 

My research focuses on teaching computers to “see” inside the Earth and the human body using waves. Just like ultrasound lets doctors look inside the body, or seismic waves let geologists study what’s underground, the new computer methods that I design combine AI with the laws of wave physics. By blending AI with physics, we can create sharper, faster and more reliable images.

How do you see AI affecting your field in the next decade? 

The next big step is building AI that is guided by wave physics — the science of how sound waves, seismic waves and other signals travel through materials. My team is focused on this challenge, creating AI systems that can work even when data are scarce by learning directly from physics. Looking further ahead, I believe AI will not only use known wave physics to make imaging sharper and faster, but also help us discover new physics, opening the door to breakthroughs in how we see both the human body and the Earth.

Jessica Zegre-Hemsey

Associate professor, UNC School of Nursing 

Tell us about your research. 

My program of research in emergency cardiac care is focused on improving patient outcomes among individuals with acute cardiovascular conditions. My team investigates noninvasive cardiac monitoring and other physiological measures for early disease prediction and to advance early risk stratification and triage, diagnosis and access to lifesaving care. I am a nurse scientist collaborating with an interdisciplinary team of cardiologists, emergency providers, EMS, engineers and computer scientists to advance science and knowledge of evidenced-based care.

 How do you see AI affecting your field in the next decade? 

In 10 years, I think AI will be more readily integrated into real-time clinical decision-making across health care settings. For example, in a fast-paced setting such as EMS, AI strategies might have potential to make predictions that can readily help EMS clinicians make decisions and take appropriate steps for treating an emergent condition.

In the future, it will be critically important that disciplines continue to work together to develop, test and validate models to ensure reliability and accuracy before they are used in standard practice. I think, however, there is great opportunity for AI to augment clinical practice across the health care spectrum.