CBI highlights responsible and sustainable AI at first symposium

On March 11-12, 2025, the Carnegie Bosch Institute hosted its inaugural symposium focused on the latest developments in Responsible & Sustainable AI (ReS AI), bringing together experts from academia and industry.

Here are six favorite moments from the team:

1. All the way from Bosch Latin America, Jonatas Soares dos Santos, technology and innovation manager, traveled to Pittsburgh to share a project on the role of decentralized AI agents and their use cases in mobility. The demonstration on this topic that Santos presented was developed by four of the graduates of the Digital Talent Academy, a two-year training program for pre-university age students that Santos manages. Through the academy, youth are given the opportunity to learn the skills they need to work as software developers, data scientists, cyber security analysts, etc. 95% of the program’s graduates have stayed on to work at Bosch, and some are interested in pursuing higher degrees like those offered at CMU.
2. Four impactful research associates from the Bosch Research Center in Pittsburgh serve as CBI “Industry Mentors” and “Area Experts” (on AI, cybersecurity and privacy, robotics, and sustainability) and had the opportunity to introduce each of the CBI Fellows, who were spotlighted at the event. The fellows had a chance to present their groundbreaking work made possible by CBI’s program, which encourages interaction not only with their academic faculty hosts, but with the industry mentors as well, who advise the CBI fellows year-round.
3. Alessandro Oltramari, president of CBI, who brought all of the speakers and guests together for this event, gave this impactful advice: “We must handle AI technologies with wisdom, ensuring they serve humanity in building a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future. This is our opportunity—to use the powerful tools we are creating not just to move forward, but to move forward wisely and together.”
4. Bill Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering at CMU, commented on the importance of the long-term relationship between Bosch and CMU. He said, “This event, and the whole relationship with Bosch, is very important to all of CMU and the College of Engineering in particular because of the long relationship that we’ve had. As part of the thirty year collaboration, we conduct academic and industrially-relevant research that fosters breakthrough technologies. As partners, Bosch and CMU together have much to offer to the world.”
5. CBI fellow Vivek Thangavelu is completing his fellowship with professor Aaron Johnson in the Robomechanics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering, working on research that involves mediating contaminated soil and soil biodiversity loss. He spoke about the need for automation and how using robots and AI in collecting soil samples would help speed up the process and make it safer and more efficient. Thangavelu has said that he wanted to come to CMU to do this work as a CBI fellow because, “Carnegie Mellon University has an institutional history of advancing robotic technologies for decades. I plan to obtain a research faculty position in the future, and a postdoctoral position at CMU will help me achieve that dream. Furthermore, the CBI fellowship grants me the freedom and flexibility to network and work with different labs at CMU, research labs outside of CMU, and industrial partners such as Bosch.”
6. CBI fellow Lisa Masserova joined the Carnegie Bosch Institute fellows program last year, focusing her research on security and privacy in collaboration with her faculty host, professor Elaine Shi. At the ReS AI Symposium, Masserova presented her contribution to the development of secure, scalable, and practical cryptographic systems that empower individuals and organizations to collaborate without compromising privacy or security.Masserova's work lies at the intersection of applied cryptography, privacy, and security, with the overarching goal of making privacy-preserving technologies a standard across industries.

The inaugural ReS AI Symposium provided a wonderful occasion to unveil the new portraits of Andrew Carnegie and Robert Bosch (see below), commissioned by CBI and created by renowned Italian artist and graphic designer Osvaldo Casanova. Casanova’s portfolio includes collaborations with UEFA, Adidas Football, Zeit Magazine, and numerous other international brands.