AI Is Here. What Should We Do With It?

Speaker Friday, September 25, 2026

It seems like AI is everywhere now, but what should the average person actually do with it, and should we be scared? Artificial intelligence can write, research, analyze information, create images, and answer questions in seconds. At the same time, concerns about safety, reliability, and the rapid pace of development have prompted serious public debate. Between the excitement about what AI can accomplish and the warnings about where it may be headed, it can be difficult to know what to believe.

Join the Green Hills Rotary Club at 7:15 a.m. on Friday, September 25, 2026, at the Hillsboro Boy Scout Service Center for “AI in Healthcare and Beyond: Considerations for the Public,” presented by Laurie Lovett Novak, PhD, MHSA, FAMIA, FACMI.

Novak is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt Health and Deputy Director of the ADVANCE AI Center. An anthropologist specializing in the use and meaning of technology in everyday life and work, Novak brings a perspective on AI that goes beyond the technology itself to examine how people and organizations actually use it.

Her current work focuses on the implementation of artificial intelligence in medicine, including human-centered design, worker competencies, and the organizational capabilities required to deploy and manage AI tools. While healthcare provides an important setting for studying these issues, many of the questions surrounding AI extend well beyond medicine.

As AI becomes increasingly available to the general public, Novak will discuss strategies for using these tools and issues worth paying attention to in the media. The presentation will offer an opportunity to consider AI from a practical perspective: how we can use it, where caution is appropriate, and how we can better evaluate the claims and concerns surrounding a technology that is quickly becoming part of everyday life.

For more information see https://www.thenashvillealliance.org/.

9/18/26	Halim Genus, Nashville Alliance (Police and Public Safety)
9/25/26	Laurie Lovett Novak, Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Practical Use of AI
10/2/26	Todd Hartley, Senior VP of Legal and Business Affairs at CMA
10/9/26	Alfred Degrafinreid, President & CEO of Leadership Tennessee
10/16/26	Matt Greci, SVP and Manager of Nashville Superspeedway
10/23/26	Rodger Dinwiddie, CEO of STARS Nashville
10/30/26	Teresa Broyles-Aplin, President & CEO at Nashville Electric Service (NES)