Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1524189
wbjournal.com | July 22, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 3 Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi- weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special issues in May, September, October, and December by New England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $84.00. For more information, please email circulation@wbjournal.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal WBJ A division of: image to illustrate a story about home- lessness. None of this is bigger than the discovery of fire, but these are small steps into a future with AI. – Brad Kane, editor F or nearly two years now, I've been hearing how artificial intelligence is going to change the world. At industry confer- ences and training programs, AI champions have said the proliferation of AI will have a bigger impact on the human race than the invention of cars, or even the discovery of fire. While people will readily make these world-changing claims, they are light on the details of how AI can actually be used to make me better at my job. With all technological advances, I understand the need to add these new tools to my toolbox, but I can't say AI has had much of a change on my role at WBJ, yet. About a year ago, I spent about an hour with an AI image generator to try to develop an illustration for a story about maternal morbidity, but I didn't like anything it came up with. I've been told I can use a chatbot to write social media posts, which I then have to edit, but I've found the process and the outcome is quicker and better if I just write them myself. e in- tegration of awful AI results into Google Search has made me reconsider using it as my primary search engine. But AI is about the future. In this edition's story "Training the workforce in AI" on page 12, WBJ Editorial Intern Sara Bedigian writes about how Central Massachusetts colleges and universities are integrating AI into their curricula in order to create a workforce trained on the new technology, even as they navigate the benefits and pitfalls of using AI themselves. Even though very few companies are actu- ally using AI now – a U.S. Census Bureau survey from November found only about 4% of businesses are using the technology – the anticipation is many, many more will use it in the future. Yes, AI is a pain now and very few people use it effectively, but the future economy will likely be run by those who understand its potential. And AI is changing a few ways WBJ is working. Our reporters now add their signatures to our online stories, as part of an effort to let people know our content is written by humans. WBJ is developing an AI policy meant to lay out how we plan to use AI ethically while upholding the tenets of journalism. And on page 8 in this ediiton, we did use a previously created AI Starting to actually use AI Graduate Programs clarku.edu/graduate The Clark MBA | Finance | Fintech Accounting | Analytics and Big Data Computer Science | Project Management Communications | Sustainable Development Public Administration Generous Scholarships for Central Massachusetts Students Local, Flexible, Career-Focused Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com Staff Writers Eric Casey, ecasey@wbjournal.com (real estate, manufacturing) Mica Kanner-Mascolo, mkannermascolo@wbjournal.com (health care, diversity & inclusion) Editorial Intern Sara Bedigian, sbedigian@wbjournal.com Contributors Sloane M. Perron, Giselle Rivera- Flores, Emily Micucci, Livia Gershon Photgraphers Matt Wright, Edd Cote, Christine Peterson Research Director, Stephanie Meagher, smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com General Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Accounts Manager Timothy Doyle tdoyle@wbjournal.com Special Projects Accounts Manager Julie Shorten jshorten@wbjournal.com Human Resources Manager, Tracy Rodwill, trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Director of Finance, Sara Ward, sward@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Clerk, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Event Coordinator, Patty Harris, pattyh@wbjournal.com Director of Audience Development and Operations, Leah Allen, lallen@nebusinessmedia.com Business Office Assistant, Nicole Dunn, ndunn@nebusinessmedia.com Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Associate Publisher, Mark Murray mmurray@wbjournal.com President, Tom Curtin tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com Correction: An Q&A article published in the June 24 edition of WBJ entitled "Preserving natural beauty" incorrectly said Botox is a filler treatment. The correct information is filler is a gel-like substance injected beneath the skin to restore lost volume, smooth lines, and soften creases, whereas Botox is an injection using a toxin to prevent a muscle from moving for a limited time. Additionally, the name of the owner of EA Medical Aes- thetics was misspelled three times in the article. The correct spelling is Kasia Dodman. T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 5 Central Mass. In Brief 12 Focus on Higher education 18 List: Largest colleges & universities 19 Know How 20 Movers & Shakers 21 Opinion 8 Home care, without the home New pilot program aims to improve post-hospital care and reduce homelessness by providing a transitional facility. 21 Viewpoint: A solution for Mass. budget challenges Viewpoint opinion columnist Timothy Murray, CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, urges the state legislature to approve iLottery, which could help bolster local government budgets. W