While most classes at USC aren’t teaching artificial intelligence in-depth, the job market will reward students who are fluent in the technology, said Glenn Melnick, a professor at the Price School of Public Policy and founder of the AI Knowledge Hub. 

For students unsure where to start, Melnick created the Knowledge Hub in December 2025 to serve as a database of curated videos on AI topics. The website offers weekly training modules to familiarize students with AI for academic and professional purposes while also having educational articles about AI and a discussion forum to ask questions privately.

“Our Knowledge Hub is going to be a resource, but it’s not going to be their only resource,” Melnick said in late November, before the project was launched. “Ideally, every student will eventually develop their own plan [for] how they’re going to keep themselves updated.”

Melnick said he hopes to offer two types of content through the Knowledge Hub: one that will have reading about developments in AI and the other that will have videos to teach students to use AI properly. To do so, Melnick said he begins by researching and developing the ideas, and then sends them to USC alum and website developers Mrunmayi Tilak and Sanjana Dumpala to help execute them. 

The goal of this website is to serve as a base where students can get as much helpful AI information as possible. Mrunmayi Tilak, a USC alum with a master’s degree in healthcare decision analysis, has created content for the project since April 2025. 

“If you’re slightly confused about using a tool, you would go to YouTube, and find many videos of [AI tool guides],” Tilak said in late November, before the project was launched. “But if you come to our website … we see those videos and courses ourselves first, and then recommend a list.”

Sanjana Dumpala, a USC graduate with a master’s degree in computer science, said AI education is very important. 

“This is a fast-paced world and keeping up with everything that’s going on, especially in AI is a bit difficult,” Dumpala said. “When someone wants to explore this field, they can come to this page and then go through it, read it, understand it and then apply it to real life.”

On the website, users are immediately greeted by a page of resources, starting with the JAMA Summit Report on Artificial Intelligence that covers how AI is changing the health care landscape. Just below, is a collection of 15 topic areas with multiple articles spanning a wide range of AI-related updates, from AI literacy to its effects on everyday life. In addition to the articles, an AI Toolkit offering educational video resources can be found as well.

Beyond the home page is a training module that offers videos and resources for students to learn the basics of AI on a week-by-week basis. It’s accompanied by a training module that’s specific to AI in Healthcare that requires a password users can request via a Google Form. 

Additionally, Melnick said he wants to add experts in specific AI fields to create specialized content for the platform. 

As the first AI-focused Knowledge Hub at USC, Melnick’s project was developed in collaboration with international universities and USC alumni. 

Melnick said that in June 2024, a USC alum in Indonesia gave his team seed money to start this project at USC, spanning four years and marking the start of this international AI partnership. 

“The problem is that every country and every university is facing the same challenge of how to adapt to this rapidly moving technology,” Melnick said. ”If we can work together, it’ll help.”