Artificial Intelligence

At the University of Virginia, AI research is advancing rapidly across schools and disciplines. This collection of recent news stories highlights how UVA researchers are using AI to generate new knowledge, inform policy and practice, and address complex challenges across fields.

Find out how UVA is making AI both great and good.

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Biomedical Engineering

Test of Large Language Models Reveals Promise, Pitfalls for Biomedical Research

UVA researchers led by Jeff Saucerman tested whether AI large language models like GPT, Gemini and Claude can map cellular communication networks and predict disease-related disruptions. While the models identified known biological pathways reasonably well, they predicted disease outcomes accurately less than a third of the time, highlighting AI’s promise and current limitations in biomedical research without human oversight.

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Artificial Intelligence

For AI to Advance, We Need Better Ways to Harness Imperfect Data. UVA Engineering’s Yu Meng Could Help.

UVA Engineering’s Yu Meng has won a five-year, $769,711 NSF CAREER Award to develop AI systems that learn effectively from imperfect, incomplete or inconsistently labeled data. His “weak supervision” research could transform fields like healthcare and finance while reducing costly manual data annotation, with findings integrated into new curricula and K-12 outreach programs.

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Annual Report

One Economist’s Case for Taking AI Seriously

UVA economist Anton Korinek shifted his research focus from financial crises to artificial intelligence in 2015, sensing its transformative potential. Now a TIME100 AI honoree leading research at Anthropic, Korinek studies how to distribute AGI’s economic benefits broadly and warns that fully automating AI research could trigger a significant growth explosion within just three years.

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Artificial Intelligence

AI Is Changing the Rules of Customer Data. Here’s What Wins Now.

AI is transforming customer data from a competitive asset into a prediction engine, says Darden professor Raj Venkatesan. Owning data isn’t enough—companies must convert it into customer knowledge through analysis. Success requires patience, cross-business insight application, and understanding three pillars: customer data, analytical capability, and the knowledge that analysis creates.

Artificial Intelligence

The AI Race Is Moving to Space

UVA’s Peter Beling discusses why tech giants are eyeing space for AI data centers, driven by unlimited solar energy and SpaceX’s reusable rocket breakthroughs. He explores security risks like cosmic radiation and satellite attacks, the geopolitics of a space-based AI race, and why building trustworthy, resilient AI systems matters more than raw speed or capability.

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Neuroscience

36 Grace Hopper Superchips Coming to UVA to Support Brain Data Research

UVA Professor John Van Horn secured a competitive NIH High-End Instrumentation Grant to purchase 36 NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips, creating one of the nation’s most powerful university-based neuroscience computing resources. The GPU cluster will accelerate brain data analysis, supporting research into Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and autism while fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across UVA schools.