Ever since the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022, artificial intelligence has dominated conversations related to higher education and the future of work in the U.S. Now, some colleges are investing significantly in AI-related programs, from specific degrees to integrating AI literacy into other disciplines.
They are doing so for several reasons.
Those include responding to predictions that the American workforce will rely on AI much more in the future. For students who would like to work with the development and science of AI, that can mean jobs — some of which are fairly high-paying. For students in other disciplines, that could mean they need to demonstrate AI-related knowledge or competency to land jobs.
“I don’t know how higher ed could not embrace AI literacy as a learning outcome,” said C. Edward Watson, vice president for digital innovation at the American Association of Colleges and Universities. “We can’t not lean in to provide students with the skills that we know they’re now expected to have when they graduate.”
But institutions may also be responding to student interest in AI. As many institutions deal with enrollment declines, that can be a powerful motivator.
“There are only a finite number of students and they’re going to decide where they’re going to go based upon which institutions will best prepare them for life beyond college,” Watson said.
How are colleges approaching AI?
So far, around 100 universities have launched some sort of credential in AI, said Luke Koslosky, a research analyst with the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
And interest appears to be growing around the topic. Conferrals of AI-related undergraduate and master’s degrees — which include computer science and cybersecurity — have increased about 120% since 2011, according to a 2023 report from CSET. In 2021, colleges conferred over 140,000 bachelor’s degrees and roughly 70,000 master’s degrees releated to AI.
AI credentials typically live within computer science or engineering disciplines. The University of Pennsylvania, for example, offers both bachelor’s and master’s engineering degrees in AI. And some institutions offer AI-related minors.
Other colleges are taking a different approach — integrating some AI science or AI literacy into other disciplines.
That’s how the University of Florida is approaching its AI initiative, which aims to integrate AI into every undergraduate major and graduate program. So far, the university has incorporated AI education into a handful of undergraduate programs, including majors in information systems and data science and a minor in bioinformatics. It’s also added AI education to several graduate programs.
Additionally, University of Florida offers a general AI certificate and discipline-specific AI certificates in hospitality, geography and public health.
The AAC&U is also embarking on a project to help departments integrate AI into their programs. The higher education association is working with 124 institutions through its Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum, launched in September.
Departments submitted proposals about what they would like to achieve as far as integrating AI literacy into their curricula to receive assistance through virtual events and mentorship. Teams had to involve at least five people on a campus, preferably with one senior leader.
“It was becoming arguable that maybe in addition to being able to write well and speak well and to be a critical thinker that additional, essential learning that should occur in college may have to do with developing AI literacies,” said Watson, the director of the institute.
The process can be difficult because faculty need to be competent in AI. Then, teams need to decide in which classes they’re going to teach AI literacy, what assignments they are going to give, and whether to focus on AI generally or in a more discipline-specific way.
Choosing to invest
Despite the growing interest in the emerging technology, investing in AI-related programming is often difficult. For one, depending on the level and focus, it can be expensive. AI curricula can require colleges to hire qualified faculty and staff and pay for significant computing power.
That’s why many of the institutions that are investing in AI, such as Carnegie Mellon University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are well-resourced with large endowments, Koslosky said.
Other institutions are pursuing partnerships with industry to make their goals possible. University of Florida, for instance, has a partnership with chipmaker Nvidia, which includes a $50 million gift from the company and one of its cofounders. Arizona State University is partnering with OpenAI, to provide enterprise subscriptions to ChatGPT for approved faculty and staff.
Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York system, recently expanded an AI institute into a universitywide initiative, which will focus on research and applications in healthcare, infrastructure, education and finance. The university is investing about $15 million, which includes support from Empire AI, a college research consortium focused on AI and heavily funded by the state.
Stony Brook Provost Carl Lejuez said that “$15 million is nothing and a lot of money all at the same time.”
“We’re seeing companies struggle with this immensely because they’re having to make decisions about — are they going to fall behind so far that they’re not going to be able to compete?” Lejuez added. “But in the meantime they’re spending millions and in some cases billions in cases where they’re not generating real revenue yet.”
Whether an investment in AI programming is right for an institution will likely depend on its circumstances, including its resources, faculty, mission and connections to industry.
“If you’re a major research university, you’re going to be really far behind if you are not investing in this,” Lejuez said. “For research universities, it’s an absolute necessity.”
For other institutions though, a big AI investment might be riskier.
“If your school doesn’t have a huge computer science department and doesn’t have a lot of industry connections to companies using AI or building AI, then you shouldn’t drop everything to stand up a brand new AI program right now,” Koslosky said.
Additionally, investments in AI are so far untested. Although many business leaders believe AI is going to change the American workforce, that transformation hasn’t fully come to pass. Although current research predicts the number of AI jobs trending upwards, what those jobs look like might change. That means that trying to integrate AI into other disciplines is the financially safer approach, Koslosky said.
“Schools are struggling with lots of things and balancing competing priorities,” he said. “AI is important and will continue to be, but it’s not the only important thing.”
