Houghton University Faculty Discuss Artificial Intelligence in Christian Liberal Arts Schools

Last year, Houghton University faculty members participated in a panel on the presence and impact of artificial intelligence in Christian liberal arts schools, particularly within the area of the education field. The ethics of using AI and the importance of teaching students how to use AI responsibly were among the subjects discussed during the panel, as well as each faculty member’s personal experiences with AI.

Faculty participants ranged from the humanities to mathematics and included Brandon Bate, Peter Meilaender, Jesse Sharpe, Sara Massey, Laurie Dashnau, Craig Whitmore, and David Huth. While the answers given were various, it was clear that AI has had a great impact on the education field and the future of teaching, as well as posing a possible threat to human creativity. Brandon Bate commented on the dangers that AI poses towards self-expression and originality, a thought first expressed by Jesse Sharpe earlier in the panel:

The danger with technologies like ChatGPT is that, along with further degrading social connection, they can take away our sense of individuality. All of us faculty have endured the painful process of writing down one’s thoughts, reading them over, being immensely dissatisfied with the result, and having to change or start over. But the result of this process is that you find your own voice, your own words, and your own style. AI technology can essentially provide you with a way to avoid that process.

In the months following the panel, each faculty member wrote a brief reflection on the panel and their current thoughts on AI now that time had passed. The reflections revealed that not much had changed in terms of each faculty’s perspectives on AI, with the exception of a few who reconsidered their stances and are now more willing to embrace the functions of AI.

The panel discussion and the resulting reflections were featured on Christian’s Scholar Reviews in an article written by Alison Young-Reusser in August. The subject of generative AI continues to be rigorously reviewed at Houghton. Recently, Michael Jordan, Paul Young and Alison Young-Reusser have received a planning grant from the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities to conduct research on “The Impact of AI technology on Connectedness, Interpersonal Trust, and Loneliness in Higher Education and the Church.”