UNO’s OMA x AI Emphasizes Experimentation, Innovation, and Understanding

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) hosted the second annual OMA x AI conference, the City of Omaha's largest AI-centered gathering, to discuss, ask questions, and explore the growing technology and its impact on education, the workforce, and society.

“When we launched the first OMA x AI conference last October, we honestly did not know what to expect,” said Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA.

“We weren’t sure how many people would come or how our community would respond, but we had one clear goal: to find out whether Omaha was ready to engage in a meaningful conversation about artificial intelligence. The answer was a resounding yes.”

Following high demand from the inaugural OMA x AI event, which saw 300 attendees, this year’s conference welcomed a sold-out audience of just over 375.

🤖 What happened:

• Panelists discussed how AI is being deployed in a variety of industries to help streamline work, improve safety, and reach new limits
• Attendees heard common misconceptions about the technology from industry professionals who engage with it daily
• Attendees were challenged to explore the technology as much as possible: experiment with it, and learn how it can effectively support them
• Emphasis was given to expanding access to the technology for everyone
• Interactive breakout sessions supported users of all levels, offering tips on how to get started with the technology and how to integrate it into a business or nonprofit, to managing multi-system AI agents

💡Why it matters: AI is this generation’s technological revolution, and it has fundamentally altered society and global economies. OMA x AI is one of many ways that UNO is supporting education and research around the technology, ensuring that today and tomorrow’s workforce can ethically, comfortably, and practically use AI. The event aligned with UNO’s core value of engagement, helping to strengthen the community through the power of shared information, resources, and dynamic collaboration and partnerships.

📣 What we heard:

• Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA: “At UNO, we do not believe AI will replace people. We believe AI will empower people. AI is a tool, like every transformative technology before it. Its value depends on how we choose to use it,” she said. “More importantly, we believe we will grow alongside our community by learning and using AI responsibly. Responsibility, accountability, transparency, and ethical leadership must remain at the heart of how we teach, learn, conduct research, and serve our community. Innovation without responsibility is incomplete.”

• Omaha Mayor John Ewing: “I want Omaha to innovate. I want us to fail fast and grow by any means that we can,” he said. “We also know that, like any transformational invention, from fire to the printing press to the automobile, there is a ‘handle with care’ requirement. We have a duty to use AI responsibly, ethically, and apply AI as we would any technology for the common good. . .I want to encourage you to soak up the knowledge and become a better driver of AI for your organization and our community.”

💭 🎤 Keynote insights:

Experienced industry expert Torian Richardson, the CEO of DBR77 USA, was featured as this year’s OMA x AI keynote. DBR77 USA is a robotics and technology company focusing on industrial digital transformation.

Richardson shared personal stories and insights into how technology has played a role in his life and how people can collaborate and share differing ideas and opinions to create the best version of our future.

“This is an opportunity for us to think about how energy is deployed, what learning looks like in the future, what employment could look like, feel like, what communities are in the room, what communities are not in the room,” he said.

“This is the creative opportunity for everyone to come together and think about the trajectory of the future, utilizing that as the catalyst in the direction that we go."

Richardson stressed the idea that the era of artificial intelligence is one that we each have agency over, as we have the chance to create new things, ideas, new ways of thinking, working, and learning, all with new people.

📖 Word of the day: Agency.

• Definition: The capacity, condition, or state of acting or exerting power
• “Agency begins where judgment takes action, and responsibility has an owner,” said Richardson

🔎🧠🦾 Zoom in:

• OMA x AI comes on the heels of UNO’s first Mav AI Day and the public opening of AI-CCORE, a hub for AI services and education for UNO and the greater community
• As part of the university's mission to provide education without barriers, AI microcredentials are offered to students, professionals, community members, and curious minds alike to equip all learners with the tools and skills needed in an increasingly AI-centered world
• Explore UNO’s guiding principles when it comes to AI usage, education, and research

📰 Read more:

• A recent UNO study reveals how students collaborate with AI and what it means for the workforce
• Chancellor Li recently spoke with Nebraska Public Media on the University’s goal to be a leader in AI research

📺 What’s next: Stay tuned for the OMA x AI event recap video in the UNO News Center and on the UNO YouTube page