The Don’t AI Alone (“DAIA”) working group is a faculty, staff, and student-led working group dedicated to shaping the future of AI in teaching and learning by building a dynamic CUNY-wide professional learning community that unites diverse perspectives, collaboratively develops accessible asynchronous learning resources, and elevates high-priority questions to responsibly harness AI’s transformative potential. The grassroots group started meeting in December 2024, mapping out existing CUNY-wide and campus-wide AI-related initiatives and brainstorming ways to break down existing silos.

The first DAIA event (DAIA #1) in May 2025 was a small-scale unsymposium to gather colleagues from all 26 campuses engaging with AI in pioneering, critical, or inclusive ways. More than 60 faculty, staff, and student leaders of AI initiatives came together on a rainy day to network, share strategies, and surface fundamental questions about the future of AI and education.

The second DAIA event (DAIA #2) in November 2025, “AI in CUNY’s Classrooms,” was a full-day conference that brought more than 100 participants to Hunter College’s Roosevelt House to celebrate constructive, ethical, and innovative approaches to AI in education. DAIA #2 included presentations from Baruch, BCC, BMCC, Central, CSI, GC, John Jay, Hostos, Hunter, Lehman, and York. It also featured a keynote panel with President Brumberg (GC), Provost Montenegro (BCC), Dean Chito-Childs (Hunter), Dean Gorlewski (Hunter), Dean Silberman (Central) and Senior Deputy Commissioner Matteson (NYSED).  These leaders further inspired the group by showing that this movement has strong backing from both CUNY and New York State. 

Across these two events, participants used DAIA as a space to incubate discussion, share research and program designs, solicit feedback, and identify concrete opportunities for new collaborations to strengthen CUNY’s excellence and leadership in the age of AI. In parallel, the working group has continued to expand the DAIA mapping of AI-related initiatives across CUNY. To date, this living database includes more than 120 projects led by faculty, staff, and students from across the University, highlighting both the breadth of existing work and the opportunities for deeper connection and coordination.

History