College steps into future with new AI minor

Janeth Gomez ’29 
gomezj96@lakeforest.edu
Staff Writer

A new era of technology has begun, and the College is riding the wave with a new artificial intelligence (AI) minor for students to explore. 

In the current era of technology, AI usage has begun to run rampant across schools nationwide. With easy access to AI engines, educators across the country have struggled to cope with the new technology and its unknown possibilities. A new AI minor is the College’s attempt at preparing students for a future workforce with AI.

The program is co-chaired by Professor Sara Jamshidi and Professor Davis Schneiderman and has two disciplinary tracks: AI governance and AI studies.

The AI governance track focuses on teaching students skills to help them manage AI in the workforce. Professor Sara Jamshidi, Assistant Professor of computer science and mathematics and Co-Chair of artificial intelligence, explains that the AI governance track is structured to prepare students to manage AI in the workforce in an ethical manner. 

“Most people are aware that the rise of contemporary AI has had a major impact on the workforce,” she said. “AI needs to be managed by somebody who understands where and when it can be applied.”

On the other hand, the AI studies, led by Dr. Schneiderman, the Executive Director of the Krebs Center for the Humanities, Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Co-Chair of and Professor of English, is centered more on how AI is transforming humanity through the lens of literature, ethics, history and the arts.

 “One of the things that makes this minor distinctive is how it encourages students to explore AI beyond just its functionality,” he said. “We’re interested in the study of AI as part of the AI Studies’ track, which explores how AI intersects with storytelling, creativity and history.” 

But the introduction of AI at the College didn’t just start this fall. Noah Garza, a fourth-year student and a computer science major, says that he took a class last year with Professor Matsumara, Assistant Professor of Art History, in which the professor had special guidelines on how to use AI in class. 

As described by Noah Garza, Professor Matsumara’s class followed these three rules for using AI on an assignment: (1) If AI was to be used to aid an assignment, the ideas used had to be fully developed by the student, (2) AI was allowed on assignments for purposes such as checking grammar and spelling, (3) Students in Professor Matsumara’s class had to be honest about how and when they used AI on their assignments.

When asked about the introduction of the new AI minor and leniency from professors regarding AI usage on assignments, Garza said that he believed that the future is headed in a more technology-based direction. 

Schneiderman believes that the possibilities with the new minor are significant. 

“Whether students are interested in machine learning, digital storytelling, or the ethics of algorithmic decision-making,” he said. “The minor provides a space to imagine the world we want to live in. As AI becomes a larger part of everyday life, we want our students to help shape its future — not merely adapt to it.”