‘Biggest cultural shift:’ How Penn State is reacting to growing role of A.I. in education

University Park, PA (WJAC) — As Penn State celebrates its history this Homecoming weekend, there is an ongoing major development in future technology that the university, and many in higher education, are now focusing on.

This week, A.I., or Artificial Intelligence, was the topic of a state Senate hearing in Harrisburg.

“We are living through the biggest cultural shift humanity has ever seen with the evolution of A.I.”

Officials say A.I. may already be a bigger part of our everyday life than people realize.

“I often find that when you ask people do you use A.I., and they answer no, then you say, ‘do you order online?’ Do you use Google to ask about things? If those answers are yes, then you are using A.I.”

On campus, artificial intelligence is shaping both policy and curriculum.

“At Penn State, we already responded. We have launched, for example, one of the nation’s first A.I. engineering degrees.”

That’s Penn State provost Fotis Sotiropoulos talking about A.I.’s fast growing impact.

“More than 80 percent of our students already use A.I. in their classwork.”

He added that one of Penn State’s goals is that by the fall of 2027, every student will have the opportunity to be A.I. literate.