Ohio State University launches initiative requiring that students study AI
Columbus, Ohio — College freshmen Ashlee Croll and Brooklyn Baldwin are part of something new this fall at Ohio State University that will infuse artificial intelligence lessons into every major.
"As a bio major, you have to take a lot of hard science classes, math classes," Croll told CBS News. "So, there's going to be struggles along the way that, you know, I'm not going to be able to access a tutor all the time. So I think AI will be a little helpful in that."
The goal of the initiative, AI Fluency, is that students, beginning with the class of 2029, will graduate and be fluent in both their major and AI.
"I hope that they learn how to use it effectively for, you know, brainstorming, for organizing thoughts, but they don't replace, sort of, their critical thought with it," said Kevin Richards, an assistant language professor at OSU.
Beginning this year, all freshmen are required to take a course in generative AI and multiple workshops aimed at real-world applications to help them master the technology.
In the last decade, the number of job listings asking for AI skills has soared by 619% in the United States, according to a recent analysis from the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. In the last year alone, the number of AI-themed job postings has increased by 103%, Brookings found.
"It's a thing that really helps you do your job better," Luis von Ahn, CEO of Duolingo, the popular app that teaches foreign languages, told CBS News. "...Having something in your resume that says something about AI would give you an advantage, because a lot of our work is being done this way."
Von Ahn says AI hasn't replaced any full-time positions at Duolingo. However, he explains that it took the company more than a decade to create its first 100 courses. By using AI, it has created nearly 150 new ones in the last year alone.
"It allows us to go faster and it allows us to create, you know, high-quality content just at a much higher pace," von Ahn said.
Many Americans remain skeptical of AI. In a new survey of U.S. adults released by the Pew Research Center on Wednesday, 53% of respondents said they believed that AI will worsen people's ability to think creatively.
OSU is hoping that threading AI into its curriculum will help its students' resumes stand out. Baldwin is tentatively optimistic it will give her an advantage when she enters the workforce.
"There's a lot I didn't know about before taking this class," Baldwin said. "And if there's other college students that haven't been offered a class like this, and haven't been told about these new AI tools, then maybe have a leg up in that sense."
Meg Oliver is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York City. Oliver is a veteran journalist with more than two decades of reporting and anchoring experience.
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