Professor Geoff Rodgers is a Pro Vice-Chancellor at Brunel University of London and chairs its AI Management Group. Professor Rodgers takes a look at how AI is being used at the university and how your business can reflect on the integration of AI for the future…
There can be little doubt that AI and data science have the capacity to transform society, and that the economy can benefit from that transformation through the creation of new jobs and businesses. Of course, the challenge, faced by large and small businesses across West London, is in implementing AI.
For most organisations, the issue is not access to technology but knowing where to start, how to deploy AI safely, and how to translate it into measurable productivity and competitiveness gains. Closing the implementation gap – between promise and practical value – has become a critical business priority.
And Brunel is no different. We have passed an AI experimentation phase, where activities were driven by a small group of enthusiasts, to more managed, institution‑wide implementation, with increasing focus on governance, responsible use, productivity gains, and strategic opportunity.
We have framed AI use within a set of responsible AI principles, including transparency, academic integrity, equity, and data security. We have established an AI Management Group, providing oversight of AI use across teaching, research, professional services, data protection, and ethics.
AI tools are being explored to support learning design, formative feedback, accessibility, and student support, but not marking. We have introduced a chatbot to support students accessing online material, which is integrated with some of our in-person delivery, as well as making Copilot available to all staff and students. We also use a chatbot to triage general student enquiries. The basics of AI have become a key part of our student employability training across the institution.
In research, we have staff working at the cutting edge of the latest technical developments in AI, as well as on trust and implementation issues. Across the faculties, there is work going on to integrate AI into research methodologies and technologies ranging from engineering and manufacturing to finance and accounting.
We are beginning to use AI to improve efficiency, decision‑making, and staff capacity, particularly in knowledge‑intensive professional services. Communications and training emphasise that AI is about augmentation, not replacement, and on using AI to free staff time for higher‑value activities.
AI is already a core part of our innovation capabilities, particularly in the work we do with the West London industrial clusters. Our business-facing short courses support businesses in practical AI adoption, not cutting-edge algorithm development.
Early research suggests that some students use AI in a way that improves learning, and others in a way that reduces it. Analogously, in business, good AI use can promote creativity, quality, and productivity; the reverse could damage all three.
