CU’s Festival XIII continues with session on ethical uses of artificial intelligence

Former Oklahoma Congressman Brad Carson - now president of an advocacy group calling for regulations on artificial intelligence - will visit Lawton and Duncan later this month in the next installment of Cameron University's academic festival, "Being Human in the Age of AI."

Carson will visit Cameron's Lawton campus on the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 10, to speak to CU students on ethical uses of artificial intelligence. He will then travel to Duncan to deliver a community presentation in the Simmons Center. His presentation, "Ethical Dilemmas of Artificial Intelligence," begins at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Although the evening session is free, tickets must be reserved in advance. To reserve a ticket online, visit www.cameron.edu/festival-tickets.

Carson is co-founder and president of Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization dedicated to policy advocacy in the public interest and focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. It works with lawmakers, national security experts, civil society organizations, and technology industry associations to advance bipartisan legislation.

"We seek to address a broad range of policy issues raised by AI, including current harms, national security concerns and emerging risks," Carson said. "ARI is a bipartisan organization, working within and across political ideologies. We seek policies that protect the public while maintaining America's competitive advantage in the development and research of artificial intelligence."

A Rhodes Scholar, Carson is widely published and a noted authority on national security, energy policy and American politics. He served two terms as a U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma. He later deployed as an intelligence officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service.

In 2015, President Obama appointed Carson acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Department of Defense. For his work as Under Secretary, military historian Richard Kohn has hailed him as the most successful and consequential person to ever hold the job.

Carson was appointed to the faculty of the business and law schools at the University of Tulsa, where he directed the National Energy Policy Institute and taught academic courses on energy policy, property law, negotiation and game theory, globalization, and law and literature. He went on to serve as UT's 21st president from 2021-2025, departing after helping establish ARI in 2023.

Cameron University's academic festival series was established in 1991 and is held every three years. Festivals explore an academic theme or societal issue through special events and campus activities, such as lectures, conferences, concerts, exhibits and theatrical productions.

The McCasland Foundation of Duncan is the primary sponsor of CU's academic festival series. Over the years, financial support has also come from the McCasland/Amquest Bank Endowed Chair, the Cameron University Foundation and the CU Lectures and Concerts Series.

Learn more about upcoming Festival XIII events on the Cameron website, www.cameron.edu/festival.

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