Primary speaker:
Esther Simmonds-MacAdam
Project Manager, AI, ITS
Additional speakers:
Jose Manuel Lopez Lujan
Senior Manager, AI Strategy & Platforms, ITS
Daniella Mallinick, Executive Director, Digital Strategies, Office of the Vice-President and Provost
Description:
The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence has created both urgency and uncertainty for higher education institutions. In 2023, the University of Toronto responded by convening an AI Task Force, whose recommendations led to the creation of the AI Kitchen — an institution-wide hub designed to support responsible, secure and human-centred AI adoption.
This session traces the evolution of the AI Kitchen from recommendation to reality, focusing less on technology and more on the leadership, partnerships and strategic alignment required to make it viable. Attendees will learn how the AI Kitchen was intentionally designed as a shared institutional product, co-owned and co-governed by Digital Strategies, Information Technology Services, the Centre for Teaching and Learning, and University of Toronto Libraries. Rather than creating a new standalone unit, the pre-launch phase of the initiative has relied on deep cross-portfolio collaboration, with staff contributing time and expertise beyond their formal roles to launch a unified AI capability for the institution.
The presentation will explore how governance models, trust-building and clear strategic framing enabled the AI Kitchen to move from vision to pre-launch delivery, even amid evolving risk, policy and capacity constraints. It will also surface practical lessons learned: what worked, what was harder than expected and where trade-offs were required.
