[Cobo] Exploring a Unified AI Infrastructure for the State System

[Hathaway, Nick]

Business Officers,
Artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role in our systems, classes, administrative processes and research. As Business Officers, we must consider the fiscal implications of this technology. This will be a very significant increasing cost. There is a conversation underway to explore a Shared State System AI Infrastructure.
The primary goal of this effort is to manage a major increasing cost. As individual institutions begin to invest in AI tools, there is a high risk of significant, unmanaged expenses and duplicative spending across the system. By coordinating our efforts, we can leverage our collective buying power to reduce costs and infrastructure fees that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive for many campuses.
Inspired by enterprise models elsewhere, the envisioned infrastructure would potentially offer several benefits:

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Cost Efficiency & Aggregation: Leveraging the buying power of all 25 institutions to reduce the financial burden of individual subscriptions and licensing.

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Data Sovereignty & Security: Creating a "walled garden" that ensures sensitive institutional and student data is never used to train external public models.

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Model Agnosticism: Providing a centralized gateway that allows us to route requests to the most cost-effective models (perhaps local models) as the market shifts.

  *   Scalability of Innovation: Ensuring that all institutions, regardless of size or resources, have access to the same advanced toolsets and "Institutional Marketplace" where successful AI experiences can be shared system-wide.

At the least, I will keep you/COBO apprised of this ongoing effort. In addition, if you or someone you know on your campus is interested to participate in these efforts, please let me know (nhathaway at osrhe.edu<mailto:nhathaway at osrhe.edu>).  We are currently exploring this through several tracks, including authentication/federation, technical infrastructure, and legal frameworks.
If successful, this infrastructure will strengthen the fiscal health of Oklahoma higher education and achieve many other positive impacts for students, staff and faculty.
Best regards,
Nick

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