2026 Symposium

Nov. 10-12, 2026

This year, we are excited to announce the expansion of the Heartland AI Symposium!

The Heartland AI Symposium is a hybrid, three-day, regional, interdisciplinary event that brings together students, faculty, educators, industry professionals and community members to explore how artificial intelligence is shaping education, agriculture, business, creativity and everyday life.

Through engaging keynote talks, hands-on workshops, live demonstrations and community town halls, participants learn how to use AI tools responsibly while examining their ethical, social and environmental impacts. The symposium welcomes beginners and experienced users alike, creating an open space for learning, discussion and collaboration across disciplines such as the humanities, computer science, agriculture and library sciences.

Theme and Tracks

The overall theme of this year’s conference is “Our Society in the Age of AI."

The following tracks will define the event:

AI for the Community:

General sessions for community members, parents, etc. These are beginner sessions to help the community understand how different AI systems work (LLMs, etc.), how parents can talk to kids about AI or things to keep in mind in the Age of AI, etc.

AI Literacy:

Informative sessions addressing useful ways to conceptualize the landscape of AI models and tools; potential risks and benefits of AI use; and principles, skills and mindsets that can help us think critically about whether to use it and how to do so effectively and responsibly if we do choose to use it.

AI Ethics:

Ethical considerations surrounding AI.

AI for Applications in Society:

AI adoption and applications that contribute to and have positive social impacts.

AI in Agriculture:

AI adoption, applications and discoveries in the agriculture sector.

The Environment and AI:

AI applications in climate change research; the impact of AI on the environment, natural resources, and local communities; and other AI-environmental relations.

Education’s Responses to AI:

Pre-K to higher education and approaches to teaching in the age of AI, from intentional revival of analog methods, the redesign of assessments and content materials, to integrating AI into the curriculum. As well as, sessions that critically discuss the impact of AI in education and its implications on learner outcomes.

Students’ Responses to AI:

Undergraduate and graduate students’ perspectives on education’s responses to AI, AI in the classroom, AI for the workplace and AI in society.

Rights, Protections and Ownership in the Age of AI:

Maintaining the Arts in the Age of AI:

Benefits of traditional art in an increasingly digital landscape and the need for human creation, expression and creativity in the age of AI.

AI Art:

Sessions on art and technology collaborations.

AI and Writing:

Writing across the curriculum and in the disciplines. Sessions that discuss writing research (including disclosure and publishing), writing process, teaching practices, cross-disciplinary norms and conventions, effective collaboration with AI or writing concerns (such as authorship, voice, style, intellectual property and identity).

Literary Representations of AI:

Representations and conceptualizations of AI in literature, including changing or evolving perceptions of AI around the world to better understand how authors have conceptualized AI in literary texts and how authors have envisioned AI-futures.

AI and Ancient and Premodern Studies:

Explore topics including AI themes in literature and culture; the impact (broadly imagined) of AI upon the teaching of ancient and premodern languages, cultures, history, archaeology and/or material culture; and the benefits and challenges of AI within contemporary academic research.

AI for Autonomous Systems:

Assured autonomy, safety and security issues with AI-in-the-loop systems, including cyber-physical systems.

AI for Safety and Security Applications:

AI used to improve the safety and/or security of existing systems and workflows.

AI Methods Research:

Sessions of this type are meant as a meeting place for technical AI methods researchers (usually out of computer science or adjacent disciplines) to meet, discuss shared interests and inform each other about different AI technical research activities in the Heartland. Sessions could also involve industry partners who have AI technical research interests or are interested in forging ties with university AI researchers for adopting or supporting early AI methods research results and/or engaging on corresponding joint funding actions.