Inside Emory University’s AI Education Push for All

Universities far and wide have launched AI-focused courses and degree programs in recent years, capitalizing on a wave of interest in the field.

However, those courses have almost exclusively been aimed at computer science, engineering, and business college students. Little education has been provided on how the average student could — or shouldn’t — utilize artificial intelligence (AI), and educational opportunities for those outside the sphere of a college or university are even rarer.

Joe Sutherland, director of the Center for AI Learning at Emory University, aims to shrink that gap.

The inspiration came during a talk he gave at the Newton Chamber of Commerce in Covington, Georgia. He asked the audience of business leaders how many had used AI, and not a single hand raised, he told BestColleges.

“I realized in that moment that we [in academia] may all be talking about AI, but it’s not being talked about out in the community,” Sutherland said. “If we want this to be used for the benefit of humanity, well then the community needs to have access to the right understanding, skills, and tools.”

Soon after, he found partners in the Rowen Foundation and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Those partnerships helped Sutherland launch a summer tour in June of different Georgia towns and cities, providing free seminars at each stop to teach locals about AI and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT.

He said those sessions have attracted a wide array of people. Many are Georgians who want to learn how AI may help their business. Some are skeptics interested in knowing whether AI will steal their jobs, and others are high schoolers wanting to be prepared for an AI-influenced future.

After a demo and Q&A, Emory provides attendees with three months of access to ChatGPT.

Emory’s program is unique. Many colleges and universities offer AI courses, but those are designed only for their students.

A handful of institutions offer online modules to help people get acquainted with AI, but those courses lack live demos and the opportunity to question instructors on how people can apply what they learn to their day-to-day lives.

Sutherland hopes his teachings show that AI isn’t just for engineers and the college-educated.

“I was originally worried that the tour was going to be a lot more about dispelling fears and that people wouldn’t really run with the idea,” he said. “But you see people coming back saying they gained so much productivity, even if it’s just being used to help with grocery shopping.”

He added that he’s had at least one repeat customer.

Sutherland said one woman attended a previous session and began to use what she learned at the seminar in her business, especially as it relates to content creation. She returned for another two-hour session just a few weeks later to learn more alongside a different audience that asked vastly different questions.

“I really think that the largest community impact from these technologies is just going to come from the democratization of access,” Sutherland said.

The past year has seen an explosion of AI degree programs.

The pace moved to breakneck speeds in 2023, shortly after the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022. In the following year and change, many major colleges and universities launched some form of an AI course or degree program.

Some notable ones include Arizona State University’s master of science in AI in business, the University of Pennsylvania’s bachelor of science in engineering in AI, and Purdue University’s online master of science in AI.

Associate degree programs in AI exist, too, including MiraCosta College’s associate in science degree in AI.

While Emory University’s live AI seminars may be rare, it’s not the only institution offering an introduction to AI.

A handful of schools have launched online introductory AI courses over the past two years. Some of those include:

Some aren’t free, but interested learners may find options that fit their budgets, like the University of Pennsylvania’s AI For Business Specialization course, which costs $79.

Courses like these may prove valuable. An Access Partnership survey for Amazon Web Services found that 93% of employers expect to use generative AI in the workplace by the end of 2028.