The buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) is undeniable, with daily headlines touting its revolutionary potential. But for AI to truly transform science and society, we need to look beyond the impressive demos and massive models and ensure we achieve the desired impacts in a deliberate, responsible, secure way. Last week at the AAAS 2026 Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, a panel organized by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) titled “Shaping the Future of AI’s Impact on Society” captivated a crowded room of researchers and media representatives. Manish Parashar (University of Utah) moderated the panel, and the speakers were Rayid Ghani (Carnegie Mellon University), Carla P. Gomes (Cornell University), and Elham Tabassi […]

CCC Blog, associated with the Chicago Code Camp, offers insights, tutorials, and updates on software development, technology trends, and developer community events. Covering topics such as software craftsmanship, emerging technologies, and professional development, CCC Blog provides resources for developers of all levels. Developers can learn about industry best practices, attending tech conferences, and contributing to open source projects through CCC Blog's articles and event announcements.

Computing Community Consortium

AI's true transformation requires moving beyond impressive demos to focus on measurable societal impact. Key challenges include redefining scale from model size to real-world outcomes, building trust through robust evaluation infrastructure, addressing resource disparities between academia and industry, and ensuring impacted communities lead problem definition. The path forward emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, transparent evaluation frameworks, democratized access to computational resources, empowered regulatory bodies, and public-private partnerships that prioritize responsible deployment over technical metrics alone.