The “AI for All” initiative at UCF aims to ensure that students obtain vital AI Fluency skills to thrive in the marketplace post-graduation, and also to encourage faculty and staff to keep current with ethical uses of modern technology.

AI is here to stay, and it is already changing the nature of work. Accordingly, at the university we cannot afford to simply ignore AI. Our students will need AI skills upon entering the workforce. The future of work is co-creation (human + AI), so we need to teach our students while in college what that looks like. That also requires AI fluency.

But if we do nothing but “leaning in” (the left hemisphere of this chart), there is a risk that some students will use AI to bypass their own thinking and their own learning. In those cases, we may want to introduce AI friction, so that it’s not simple for students to use AI. Some of our assignments might need to switch deliverables to make it hard to simply use AI to complete the assignments. Others might need adjusting to be more AI-resistant. And, importantly, we need to find ways to convince students that taking AI shortcuts are not in their best career interests, creating space for some writing assignments to remain in the curriculum.

In short, during the degree program, students must indeed do “all of the above,” and faculty have a role in helping to shape that.