Intelligent collaboration

The future of work isn’t about Artificial Intelligence (AI) replacing humans; it’s about the magic that happens when they join forces. Three Yale staff members share how AI tools have transformed their work, enabled innovation, and reduced repetitive tasks.

Thom Stylinski, senior creative director at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, has consistently sought out cutting-edge software to push boundaries in video pre-production and post-production. He views current AI technologies not as replacements, but as tools to automate mundane or repetitive tasks, thereby freeing up valuable time for creative work, while also enhancing quality.

Stylinski, who muses that he started using “software” in 1991, researched and started utilizing AI around 2020. At Yale since 2007, he has always been in video production (producing promotional documentaries for entities at the university and orientation videos for first-year students). Today, he oversees the production of faculty-taught Yale courses from filming through final packaging for Yale Online’s course catalog.

An early adopter of AI technology, Stylinski helped introduce its benefits to colleagues in the winter of 2022. He uses Midjourney for generating images and artwork, the Clarity Platform (Yale’s secure version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT) for idea generation, and recently started experimenting with Descript for video editing. Since his initial encounter with early AI image generation, he has noticed that the tools have evolved, providing increasingly refined and useful outputs over time.

“I’ve used Midjourney to create storyboards before sitting down with a faculty member to discuss what their course might look like. In post-production, Descript is like a great assistant editor. In the idea phase of a project, it’s almost like having someone to bounce ideas off,” Stylinski comments.

In 2023, shortly after starting at Yale, Courtney Drayer, associate director of Environmental Health and Safety, started using AI technologies to automate tasks and improve workflows and efficiencies within her department. She had previously used AI in her role at NYU Langone. At Yale, Drayer manages various programs including industrial hygiene, physical safety, research safety, and technology and outreach programs, encompassing areas like workplace health and safety, safe chemical usage, hazardous materials shipping and controlled substance licenses and compliance.

Drayer integrated Microsoft Copilot into OneDrive, SharePoint, and her Outlook calendar and email, enabling her to draft clear and concise correspondence, prepare for meetings, and summarize annual performance reviews. She also uses Zoom AI Companion, which takes meeting notes. For data analysis, she taps into the Clarity platform because of its secure environment.

“Copilot can read my calendar and will ask if I need help preparing for an upcoming meeting. It then pulls up relevant emails or documents from which I can have it create PowerPoint slides. This saves me tons of time,” said Drayer.

Her team drafts policies and provides training courses available in Workday, primarily for researchers and facilities staff. When developing a course or policy, Drayer uses AI to integrate comments from multiple reviewers into cohesive feedback, aiding in policy drafting and syllabus reviews. This integration has resulted in increased quality of output and a significant reduction in time spent on repetitive tasks.

“I ask Clarity to review data contained in an Excel spreadsheet and pull any interesting or unusual data. It will generate ideas and make graphs,” said Drayer. “During laboratory safety committee meetings, we use it to analyze incident data and find patterns. AI is life- and world-changing, offering unlimited possibilities.”

Jordan Colbert, the associate director for Assistive Technology, leads a team that removes barriers for students with disabilities through technology support and accommodations. The team provides training on a variety of resources and applications that bolster learning for about 3,400 students.

Three years ago, Colbert began using OpenAI’s ChatGPT for document accessibility and Genio, a note-taking tool that transcribes audio into text. Today, Colbert and his team also use the Clarity platform and Copilot for accessible document generation, along with Jamworks and Speechify. Genio and Jamworks record lectures, generate summaries or flashcards, provide live captions, and render text from online articles or books into spoken words. Speechify is a text to speech reader, and students can listen to course material in the voice of a celebrity. Colbert shared that the rapper Snoop Dogg’s voice has become a particular favorite.

The impact of these tools has been transformative for managing large volumes of documents. In 2022, Colbert’s team could remediate about 500 course documents from about 40 classes. Now they process 14,000 documents for approximately 500 courses.

The Clarity platform and Copilot have streamlined the team’s workflow, facilitating tasks such as data interpretation, document restructuring, and the creation of interactive study materials. In addition, they can now efficiently schedule student technology trainings and generate content that is accessible in various formats.

“We’re in a dynamic partnership with these AI tools,” Colbert shared. “As we utilize them, our user community helps refine their understanding of accessibility needs. By leveraging AI, we can provide more comprehensive and individualized student support.”