Artificial intelligence is too big for colleges and universities to ignore, so how will they deal with it?

In today’s Martin Center article, Reagan Allen writes about initiatives within the University of North Carolina system to manage the intrusion of AI.

Peter Hans, the UNC system president, says it’s likely that, as society once grappled with the internet, “the AI story will play out in a similar muddle somewhere between utopia and annihilation.” Allen notes Hans’s “ambitious vision in which North Carolina universities lead the charge for AI education and equip students with the skills they need to enter the job market.” That plan, she says, “includes partnerships with companies such as Google and Microsoft, an AI Advisory Council, and the launch of a systemwide ‘AI Skills Module.’”

That sounds reassuring, but Hans also warns about AI’s temptation to educational mediocrity. How can schools prevent students from outsourcing their thinking — the very objective of education?

Allen concludes: “Hans’s vision may create a future in which North Carolina universities lead the country in AI education. . . . But success won’t be measured by how many AI initiatives are in place or what companies we partner with. It will be measured by whether students leave college curious, disciplined, and able to think for themselves.”