Amarda Shehu was happily leading George Mason University’s Institute for Digital Innovation, which promotes research in AI and cybersecurity along with other technologies, when she was approached by the Virginia school’s president to serve as its first-ever chief AI officer (CAIO). “My first reaction was, ‘No, I don’t like the word officer,’” Shehu recalls. “I’m a faculty, I’m a researcher, I’m an educator. What is this officer thing?” But she was eventually persuaded to ignore any misgivings ab...