Sydney Martinez, Campus Carrier news editor
Professor of Communication Brian Carroll is offering a new special topics course on Responsible AI. COM 229, Responsible AI: Research, Writing & Content Creation, is a course that will offer students the ability to develop a responsible connection with AI while maintaining authorship.
Although not a new topic at Berry, an artificial intelligence (AI) course is a new development at the institution. According to the Department Chair of Communication Curt Hersey, the communication department is the first to create a dedicated course on AI.
“We’re the first out there with our own class,” Hersey said. “There’s some other departments that are also in the process of developing, not only their own classes, but also their own responses to AI.”
The establishment of this course, according to Carroll, is an acknowledgement and recognition of generative AI.
“[Generative] AI is sort of revolutionary in terms of how it’s going to restructure the industries that this department seeks to prepare students for,” Carroll said. “It’s fundamental, it’s altering.”
The Department of Communication held a summit in August to discuss the curriculum and revision package that is currently being considered in the Academic Council. The package includes the topic of AI.
A special topics course does not have to be approved by the Academic Council, only by the dean of the school. According to Hersey, special topics are a fruitful way to adapt a course before proposing it to the Academic Council to be added to the curriculum.
“The department decided that we would create a standalone class and that it wouldn’t be a required class for [communication] students,” Hersey said. “It’s going to be an elective for students.”
Once approved by the Academic Council, the course will appear in the course catalog with its own course number beginning next academic year.
Carroll was one of the 30 out of 120 applicants selected nationwide to attend the Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence Summer Institute, a two-week-long fellowship at the University of Utah. The institute brought together the scholars to discuss the intersection of AI, culture, policy and ethics.
“I came back just seeing AI on several different levels and realizing that our students absolutely have to be able to talk about it, and then we had to destigmatize the uses of it at the very center of the things we do at colleges and universities,” Carroll said.
According to Carroll, his course will teach students to navigate generative AI to represent Berry well.
“A big part of the course is navigating what is [an] ethical, responsible, healthy, hygienic use of AI tools in industries that we represent our concentrations and our courses prepare students for,” Carroll said.
The purpose of the course is for students to learn best practices for ethical AI interaction and gain knowledge for assessing various AI tools.
“Students will develop critical frameworks for evaluating AI tools, learn best practices for responsible AI integration, and create content that maintains human agency while leveraging AI capabilities,” the course syllabus says.
The course will be a mixture of hands-on experience and theoretical concepts with an emphasis on practice.
“[The course] is going to lean into using AI in responsible ways and seeing what that looks like in application, not just theoretical discussion about what might be ethical,” Carroll said.
The theoretical aspects will consist of redefining terms to adapt to AI.
“The theoretical aspects are just reconceptualizing basic terms like ‘what it writing? What is authorship?’,” Carroll said. “Those things are having to adapt to this AI-powered future and present.”
Carroll said that this course will prepare students for today’s employers who are seeking AI readiness in their applicants.
“At the very top of [employers’] list are three things,” Carroll said. “AI familiarity [is] one. Two, critical thinking. So, that’s what the course will be for, is to marry becoming AI-facile with critical thinking.”
Sophomore Kate Holcomb said that she is interested in the course because it could help her become a stand-out candidate in future job applications.
“I think the course would be beneficial because a lot of jobs require you to know how to use AI,” Holcomb said. “I feel like it’s beneficial to learn how to use it now rather than learn to use it responsibly outside of college or on my own.”
Carroll is generally enthusiastic about the course but remains cautious about the environmental troubles that may come with AI.
“I’m excited about it,” Carroll said. “I’m troubled by the global implications, you know, water and power usage to keep these data
centers humming, but I know that at the practical level, we just have to, as communication professionals, content creators, we have to know how to use these tools to do great things faster and better.”
Hersey said Provost David Slade supports the department’s AI course.
“I know the provost expressed a lot of support for this class,” Hersey said. “He’s very excited about what different departments are doing with AI, because we’re not the only ones [making departmental changes].”
Both Carroll and Hersey said that AI is something that will stick around, and it’s best to learn how to work with it rather than ignore it.
“Whether you hate it or love it, you can’t ignore it,” Hersey said. “I think it would be irresponsible not to teach our students how to utilize [AI].”