Artificial Intelligence in Academia

AI Quick-Start Guide

What is AI?

Machines may learn from experience, adapt to new inputs, and carry out activities similar to those performed by humans thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Deep learning and natural language processing are prominently utilized in the majority of AI instances you hear about today, including self-driving vehicles and chess-playing computers. Computers may be taught to perform particular jobs using these technologies by processing vast volumes of data and identifying patterns in the data.

Artificial Intelligence History

The term artificial intelligence (AI) was first used in 1956. In the 1950s, early AI research looked into issues including symbolic approaches and problem-solving. The US Department of Defense became interested in this line of work in the 1960s and started teaching computers how to simulate fundamental human reasoning. Street mapping efforts, for instance, were accomplished in the 1970s by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). And in 2003, years before Siri, Alexa, or Cortana were well-known, DARPA built intelligent personal assistants.

This early work set the path for the formal reasoning and automation we see in computers today, including decision support systems and smart search engines that can be created to complement and enhance human abilities.

In higher education, instructors have choices to make about how to respond to this software. The choice for how much or little AI usage to include is up to you. If you would like some help with a syllabus statement regarding your decision, feel free to use the options in this document as a starting point.

Learn more in the AI Libguide here. This guide will be updated periodically.