The U of M and St. Thomas have created curriculum and standards to make sure students are exposed to and use artificial intelligence.
Many colleges and universities are exploring ways to include artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching, learning and research in order to provide students with opportunities to learn more about the technology.
Schools including the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas have created programs and curriculum aimed at building student literacy in AI and ensuring students are ready to pursue opportunities after graduation.
Many institutions are concerned about falling behind and therefore are working on AI-related strategies, according to an EDUCAUSE AI Landscape study done in February.
The study also said the highest-ranking goals of AI-related strategic planning included preparing students for the future workforce, exploring new methods of teaching and learning, and improving higher education for the greater good.
There are over 30 different degrees in one form or another around AI or data science at the U of M, according to Dr. Galin Jones, a statistics professor and chair of the Data Science Initiative.
"There's lots of degree programs, there's lots of research," Jones said. "It happens in every college -- it's happening across CLA, it's happening in journalism and it's happening in statistics."
Jones said AI curriculum is driven by faculty interest. For his teaching, Jones said he recognizes AI as a tool and something he uses himself for writing simple bits of code or making emails more engaging.
"On the other hand, it can absolutely give you the wrong information," Jones said. "And so I think what's more important from my point of view is to teach students, and faculty for that matter, staff, everybody really, how to evaluate it critically and approach it critically."
Jayson Nguyen, a fourth-year engineering student at the U of M, said AI being used in classes is inevitable, but as an institution, students and faculty aren't prepared for the advancements AI has made recently.
"Most professors abhor the use of AI, and rightly so, as much of their curriculum is based on problems or writing assignments that are easily ChatGPT-able," Nguyen said. "Students will often go for the easy 'A' rather than focusing on genuine learning."
While Nguyen said AI is beneficial in terms of saving time, he feels it comes at a cost.
"The biggest downside is that it can make it easy to skip over the deeper learning process if you're not careful," Nguyen said. "It's tempting to let AI do the heavy lifting, but that can lead to a superficial understanding of the material."
The U of M has policies about how to include AI in a syllabus and provides a menu of options for instructors. Jones said this is part of the academic freedom of getting to choose how to run a course.
"For me, what I'm most concerned about is if you use it, then you've got to cite it, then you've got to say you used it and then you're responsible for it," Jones said.
Dr. Manjeet Rege, a professor and chair of the Department of Software Engineering and Data Science at the University of St. Thomas, said the school encourages instructors to have an AI usage policy.
St. Thomas offers a master's degree in AI along with graduate certificates, but no undergraduate degrees. According to Rege, the AI master's degree program was started in spring of 2024. It's a 10-course sequence that has classes including machine learning and AI ethics.
Rege said in his class, he tells students to feel free to use any generative AI tool to derive an analogy or understand content better as long as it is not used on an exam. He added that he likes to give analogies in class so students can relate to the use of AI in the world and be able to understand how to use the technology.
"How can this be used in a healthcare setting? How can this be used in tutoring?" Rege said. "So they can now take this particular scenario and ask ChatGPT, 'Can you explain how this can be used?'"
If they don't expose students to machine-learning technologies such as AI or ChatGPT, Rege said, educators are not preparing students for what they'll be using in the real world.
The U of M has a website called "Navigating AI @ UMN" that provides an understanding of what AI is and how it is used at the university. It includes approved AI tools, guidelines on how not to use it, and different AI communities and groups to get involved with.
In the summer of 2023, the U of M started the Data Science Initiative (DSI), a university-wide effort tasked with collaboration and amplification of all the data science and AI activity happening around campuses, said Hayley Borck, the managing director of DSI.
Borck said the DSI also worked to create an AI Makerspace where students and staff can have a place to work with AI on the super computer provided by the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute.
"MSI has this big ol supercomputer in the basement of Walter Library, and it's got many GPUs, and we just let people come in and have fun with it," Borck said. "If they have specific questions, we can sort of work them through."
Borck said if a faculty member chooses to use AI in a course, they take on the responsibility of teaching how to use it correctly and responsibly, otherwise a student might use it to do their work for them.
"You're going to get sort of these issues of people who, you know, don't really fully understand the tool and so more readily use it, in my mind at least, for things like plagiarism or just not doing their work instead of using it as an appropriate tool," Borck said.
Over half of students say they have used AI on assignments or exams, according to a study done by BestColleges.
Rege said St. Thomas uses AI as part of its testing protocols. He added in order to keep testing options flexible for students who might be remote or out of state, AI allows everyone to be monitored equally.
For example, Rege said if a test is open-notes, students can use Google or certain software on their computer during the test, but they aren't allowed to go to ChatGPT or it will send the instructor an alert.
"The other is you have closed notes," Rege said. "So you can only access the exam online, on the learning management system Canvas, but you cannot do anything else. You cannot open even a tab of a browser."
Rege said with the closed notes online exams, usually the computer camera will monitor the student for the duration of the exam using AI and will alert the instructor if another person comes onto the screen.
"Most of (the students), I would say 99% of them, have no issues with this at all," Rege said. "We are up front with the policy, with the communication, and ultimately, it's about maintaining academic integrity. Most students are honest, but we don't want some students who may be tempted to cheat, to kind of, you know, malign or affect reputation as well."
AI can be used for more than just teaching or research. Jones said he sees a lot of international students with English as their second language use AI to make their prose better, even on assignments.
"That makes me nervous as an instructor because is it really their work then? What exactly are they submitting?" Jones said.
Nguyen said there are major concerns about AI being used in universities and classrooms because of the potential for students to become over-reliant.
"Another concern is fairness, as not all students have equal access to AI tools as most now have a paywall for better versions which could widen the gap between those with more resources and those without," Nguyen said.
However, Jones said some of his students say they never use AI or ChatGPT because they don't trust it, saying,"They're even more conservative than an old fart like me."
Borck said many students and educators are excited about using AI, and said she sees it as a way for them to be able to do traditionally more complex jobs that they weren't able to do previously because they can now use AI as a clutch and tool.
An example Borck gives is to imagine if a cow gets bloated and needs to have its stomach popped to release gas before it becomes fatal.
"So say you're a rural farmer and your vet is an hour and a half away and is busy with some other cow who has this issue," Borck said. "I asked ChatGPT to walk me through the procedure to do that, and it gave me the steps."
When Borck asked ChatGPT for further clarification on specific steps, it would tell her exactly how to do something, like how to stitch up a cow and what tool could be used for that.
"Things like that are going to become -- like that's a little bit dangerous -- but it also could save a cow's life," Borck said. "So things like that are going to become a lot easier."
Another way users are seeing AI make things easier is in daily operations, especially when it comes to the universities. The U of M Positioned for Excellence, Alignment and Knowledge (PEAK) Initiative is a systemwide strategic initiative that transforms how the university administers critical services.
"It's a reorganization of the university's internal functions," Jones said about PEAK. "So HR and things like this, the duties of various HR units, largely a lot of the trivial, day-to-day things are being centralized."
With things like the PEAK initiative, Jones said jobs that are handled by people right now will be handled by chat bots in the future. He added AI will be an economic disruptor over the next five to ten years, as some jobs are erased and new ones are created.
Rege also said that he sees universities using AI to improve operational efficiency. Whether it's using AI to see if a student is on the path to graduation or personalized tutors, Rege said AI can be used for more than just teaching lectures.
In this era of being surrounded by intelligence software like AI, Rege said universities are doing their bit to ensure there is a skilled workforce knowledgeable in the use of AI.
Whether it's being used in statistics, engineering or English courses, Jones said there is an enormous amount of interest in AI among students, both undergraduate and graduate.
"It's here to stay," Jones said. "It's not going anywhere, and so we have to teach them how to use it appropriately."