Since the unveiling of OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT platform in the fall of 2022, educators across the country have been in a tailspin trying to figure out whether generative AI is a technological tchotchke or an existential threat.
What does it mean for English class if students can prompt a machine to read a book and write the essay about it? What does it mean for patient safety if health science majors are using AI to make judgments about care? If intellectual traditions and professional practices can now be digested and spit back out in seconds, what can and should learning in 2025 look like?
In the wake of ChatGPT and its ilk, we’ve seen a lot of institutions make the wrong moves. Especially early on, many defaulted to AI bans and tough talk while others barely reacted at all, leaving f