University of the Pacific faculty and staff are learning innovative ways to prepare students for the evolving challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence as part of an inaugural AI institute.

Pacific is one of 124 higher education institutions from around the country selected for the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum to explore varying uses for AI across all disciplines, from computer science to dentistry to business.

“Businesses expect students to be familiar with AI tools when they get out into the workforce,” said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert. “Our faculty are trying to make sure that students understand, ‘how do you use it responsibly?’”

Eight faculty members from Pacific’s three campuses in Sacramento, San Francisco and Stockton and two staff members from the library are participating in the year-long program.

“It’s great to see what other institutes are doing around generative AI,” said Michelle Gibney, head of publishing and scholarship. “There are big names in the field of higher education and generative AI who are available to us to ask questions and see what they’re doing. AI is changing everything, so it’s something we want to make sure we are staying up to date on.”

The institute complements work that has been already underway at Pacific. Last fall the Center for Teaching and Learning began a community of practice for faculty to discuss AI uses and considerations.

The institute will enhance those discussions. Through monthly meetings and webinars, participants are learning best practices to incorporate AI into the curriculum, ethical considerations and potential issues surrounding equity.

“This has been one of the big concerns,” said Jennifer Helgren, professor of history and director of general education. “There are multiple ways of looking at it. One branch of thinking says that AI is going to be great for equity because, for instance, it evens the playing field for people who don’t have access to editors.

“But the other equity issues have to do with the data these large learning models are built on. If there are biases within the data set, those biases are reproduced in the AI.”

Gibney and other participants from Pacific are developing a survey to learn how faculty, staff and students are currently using artificial intelligence and will make recommendations based on the results.

One idea being explored is to include lessons on AI into one of students’ core classes.

“This would be another layer to the information literacy badge that already exists as part of the first-year seminar series,” Helgren said. “It's a logical place to have students think through some of the ethical issues and explore how good AI is in terms of sources.”

The institute concludes with a capstone project in late April. Once complete, participants will share their knowledge across the university through a series of seminars and programs at the Center for Teaching and Learning.