SUNY to incorporate civic discourse and artificial intelligence components into curriculum

SUNY to incorporate civic discourse and artificial intelligence components into curriculum

As SUNY students begin their fall semester, they’ll be adding civic discourse and artificial intelligence components to their general education curriculum, reflecting a changing world students will graduate into.

SUNY Chancellor John King said the systemwide requirements will embed civic discourse lessons within gen-ed classes. The idea is for every student to graduate with the knowledge and skills to have respectful and reasoned discussions.

"We know that our students are going to be sitting alongside classmates who have different political views than they do, different values than they do," King said. "They're going to go to a workplace where there'll be people with different perspectives and they need to learn how to work productively with people who have different values, how to have difficult conversations about complex issues where they're not just waiting for their turn to speak but actually listening."

When it comes to artificial intelligence, students will learn how to use some of these emerging technologies, including the ethical dimensions of AI.

"Because we know AI is going to be shaping the future of our economy and our culture and students need to have an awareness of both the opportunities and the risks, the very real risks around artificial intelligence," King said.

But King said teaching students how to use AI doesn’t mean it will replace critical thinking.

"And so that means a lot more old-fashioned blue books where students are doing their writing in class with a proctor," he said. "It means more oral presentations, more cold calling in the classroom to make sure that students are doing the thinking."