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Students should learn about dangers of AI, expert says
Several Boston-area colleges are introducing artificial intelligence-focused degree programs as they seek to prepare students for a workforce that is increasingly shaped by rapidly developing technology.
Wentworth Institute of Technology began offering a degree in applied artificial intelligence this fall, while Northeastern University is introducing two dozen interdisciplinary majors that combine AI with subjects ranging from business and biochemistry to chemical engineering and philosophy, according to The Boston Globe.
Endicott College and Suffolk University also plan to introduce AI-focused programs in fall 2027. Endicott will offer a degree in AI implementation, while Suffolk will introduce a “co-major” in applied AI that students can add to existing undergraduate programs.
The programs are part of a growing effort to prepare students to enter the workforce “knowing how to use the technology rather than worrying it might replace their entry-level prospects,” according to The Boston Globe.
But colleges should teach students about both the opportunities and potential consequences of AI, according to Andrew Perlman, vice president for academic innovation at Suffolk University.
“The instruction shouldn’t just include teaching students about the effective use of AI across a range of professional pathways, although I think those insights are going to be important. Such instruction also needs to include an understanding of AI’s downsides, including its environmental impact, effects on cognitive development, and the ethics of its usage more generally,” Perlman told The College Fix.
Further, the distinction between teaching students about AI and allowing them to learn with it is particularly important, he said.
Perlman believes that learning with AI “raises significant risks to students’ professional and intellectual development.” For example, if students use AI to complete assignments or write essays, they risk failing to learn crucial skills.
“Learning about AI includes an understanding of what AI is, how it can be used effectively and ethically, and what it’s limits are and should be,” he said.
“I think we can and should hold both ideas at the same time: learning about AI is important, while learning with AI can impede a student’s acquisition of knowledge and skills unless AI use is handled very carefully,” he said.
Perlman also said students should learn “the many downsides of its use, including environmental impact, algorithmic bias, and the impact on learning.”
Asked about the future of AI education, Perlman said he expects it to continue to expand.
“I think learning about AI, including the benefits and costs of its use, will become a more common part of higher education in the coming years,” he said.
However, he said universities should not ignore the growing opposition and concerns surrounding the technology.
“Many people have expressed very strong and understandable opposition to AI’s increasing prevalence,” he said.
“Universities can and should teach about the reasons for that resistance so that our students are fully informed about both the opportunities and costs of the most consequential technology of our time,” Perlman told The Fix.
Rather than simply promoting or rejecting AI, universities should help students understand the “complexity” surrounding it, Perlman said.
“If universities approach AI education in this way, I think students with a diversity of opinions on the subject will be well served and better able to navigate a world where this technology is becoming increasingly pervasive,” he said.
The growth of AI-focused programs is occurring as colleges across the country develop protocols and rules for using the technology.
The University of Chicago decided its social sciences core classes will be “technology-free” and will prohibit both students and instructors from using artificial intelligence, The College Fix previously reported.
The University of California Berkeley School of Law is doing the same. Beginning this summer, students at the school are banned from using AI to complete coursework or exams.
Meanwhile, Harvard University is taking a different approach. College Dean David Deming recently suggested that students and educators use AI “writing-intensive” courses. He said this would allow professors to stay out of the “the AI-detection business,” which “damages trust between faculty and students,” according to the Harvard Crimson.
