Op-ed: AI Education Can’t End at Graduation

As the internet age dawned, colleges recognized the need to update their curricula and teaching methods so that students acquired the digital literacy skills to succeed in the 21st-century workforce.

Now, as artificial intelligence is reshaping how people learn and work at every stage of life, universities must update what and how they teach, but also how long they teach it, notes President Jerry Balentine, D.O., in an op-ed published on FoxNews.com. Universities have a unique opportunity and a responsibility to redesign their offerings and programs to ensure their students—past, present, and future—are AI literate,” Balentine writes.

Americans are adopting AI faster than any other technology. But there is a difference between simply using AI and using it effectively.

An experiment by researchers at Harvard Business School and Boston Consulting Group illustrates this distinction. It found that consultants using leading AI models produced higher-quality work and completed tasks faster when they recognized the technology’s strengths and limitations. When they relied on AI for tasks outside its areas of competence, their performance was worse than that of a control group not using AI at all. “AI can boost productivity in areas where we have expertise, but we must be wary that it can mislead us in areas where we don’t,” says Balentine.

Understanding how to leverage AI’s strengths without turning a blind eye to its weaknesses is the essence of AI literacy. Recent college graduates may use AI to build software or analyze data. A mid-career manager may use it to automate routine work, summarize reports, or test new business ideas. A retiree may use it to navigate healthcare information, manage medications, or compare Medicare options.

Each task requires more than knowing how to open an app. People must also know which questions to ask, how much confidence to place in the answers, and when independent verification or expert advice is required. Mastering those skills will require continuous learning.

Universities already have the basic infrastructure to meet that need, as most maintain relationships with alumni through continuing education, professional certificates, executive education, and more.

Universities have long helped people adapt to transformative changes in society. “In the AI era, higher education should continue to embrace that responsibility by becoming lifelong partners in AI education,” Balentine concludes.

Read the entire op-ed.

This op-ed is part of a campaign designed to generate awareness and thought leadership for the university on topics of national relevance.