University in Michigan to enrol two AI students
Two AI students, Ann and Fry, will be joining classes alongside regular human students at Ferris State University in Michigan this spring.
The university, which is one of only three that offer an undergraduate degree in Artificial Intelligence in the US, has undertaken this project with the dual incentives to research artificial intelligence and gain more insight into the experience of being a university student and how students interact with the university curriculum.
According to Kasey Thompson, Ferris State University's special assistant to the president for innovation and entrepreneurship, who is also leading this project, the AI students can help the university identify gaps in teaching and better understand the expectations of students. The project will also help the institution "deliver excellence" in online and hybrid environments.
Ann and Fry will be taking part in all the activities regular students are expected to participate in. They will start by listening to the class online and eventually be brought to the classroom as robots that can speak. They will be expected to attend and participate in class discussions, turn in assignments, and take exams. The university also expects the AI students to eventually pursue PhDs and find work as teaching assistants or tutors.
The AI students will each have their own backstories, which will help them complete tasks like choosing majors. They have not been given any gender, race, or demographic information.
The experiment is, however, being met with some controversy, mostly from academics with concerns regarding privacy, bias, and the potential accuracy of garnering student experiences using computers.
Some examples of these concerns are how teachers' intellectual properties would be protected, if other students would feel comfortable expressing their opinions with the AI students present, and, since the AI bots would be using audio and video recording technology to "hear" and "see" the same way as human students, if the teachers and students would consent to being recorded and becoming part of a database.