Pitt\u2019s new attempt to integrate AI into higher education with the help of Amazon Web Services is simultaneously drawing criticism and receiving praise.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 22, Pitt announced<\/a> its new partnership with AWS<\/a> and Anthropic<\/a> to create an \u201cAI-enabled Campus of the Future.\u201d This will include University-wide access to a chatbot called Claude for Education<\/a>, the development of a \u201cworkforce readiness program\u201d using technical training from Anthropic and integrating Amazon Bedrock<\/a> \u2014 a machine-learning platform used by companies to easily build AI applications \u2014 into PittGPT<\/a>, Pitt\u2019s own AI chatbot.<\/p>\n Pitt previously partnered with AWS last spring for their Cloud Innovation Center<\/a>. Brady Lutsko, communications director at Pitt Digital<\/a>, said the new partnership is \u201ca natural next step in existing relationships.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the main aspects of the new Pitt-AWS partnership is standardizing AI access across the University.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest distinction for Pitt is making sure every single student has access to these tools \u2014 we are leveling the playing field,\u201d Lutsko said. \u201cThe goal is to integrate AI in a way that gives students hands-on, career-ready experience and to do it thoughtfully. For the University, true leadership means equitable access and ethical use.\u201d<\/p>\n Lutsko added that the partnership will prepare students for workplaces that will use AI.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that AI is already in the workplace<\/a> and being used by students<\/a>, and that presence is only going to grow,\u201d Lutsko said.<\/p>\n Claude for Education<\/a>, which the new partnership will give students access to, is a generative AI chatbot powered by large language models<\/a> that is catered specifically towards academic institutions. Lutsko said Claude for Education prompts users with \u201cguiding questions\u201d instead of simply giving an answer to a problem, which he says is more conducive to learning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe University sees Claude acting as a personalized coach for critical thinking, and that\u2019s a significant benefit no matter what a student is studying,\u201d Lutsko said. \u201cThis tool was designed to support the way students learn.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Madison, coordinator of the Pitt AI Scholar-Teacher Alliance<\/a>, said the language of the partnership means Claude will not be forced upon students and faculty.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Pitt says it is going to be an AI-enabled University, the word \u2018enabled\u2019 is a very important word in this context,\u201d Madison said. \u201cWhat they mean, as I understand it, is that Claude for Education will be available to faculty, students and administrators. I do not think that it will be mandated or required that it be used by anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Madison said the partnership represents Pitt\u2019s strategy in competing with other universities by promoting its students.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it sends a signal to the job market that Pitt graduates are worth hiring, and Pitt is forward-thinking when it comes to AI,\u201d Madison said.<\/p>\n Claude for Education is not a net positive for some professors. Zachary Horton, an associate professor of film and media studies, said that because AI technology is continuously shifting and disrupting the economy<\/a>, the higher skill of critical thinking is more important to teach than the use of generative AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStudents are not going to get jobs because they\u2019ve learned how to be a good Claude prompt engineer \u2014 that\u2019s totally irrelevant,\u201d Horton said. \u201cWhat matters is that they can think creatively, lead and communicate effectively, synthesize information and thus be ready for a hybrid AI and human workplace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Horton is teaching ENGLIT 2270, \u201cAI Cultures\u201d next semester, which investigates the history and culture of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Horton, large language models<\/a> \u2014 which Claude is powered by \u2014 base their actions on data and patterns rather than understanding. LLMs \u201ccan\u2019t tell if [they\u2019re] wrong or right about anything,\u201d Horton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re mimicking the things we\u2019ve created before as humans, but there\u2019s no knowledge behind it, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s problematic,\u201d Horton said.<\/p>\n Horton called LLMs a \u201ccrisis for education\u201d because he believes classroom writing assignments would be threatened if students relied on generative AI.<\/p>\n \u201cAI can respond to assessments,\u201d Horton said. \u201cIt can\u2019t do it well, but it can do it plausibly.\u201d<\/p>\n Some proponents of generative AI tout its ability to complete low-skilled tasks<\/a>, thus freeing up the users\u2019 time<\/a>. Horton believes using it to summarize research papers is far from a low-level skill and thus a \u201cdanger\u201d of the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSummarization involves value judgments about what actually matters and what doesn\u2019t, what things are connected and what aren\u2019t, and if you\u2019re just offloading this to LLMs, your ability to synthesize information is going to atrophy,\u201d Horton said.<\/p>\n Madison said he \u201chas a lot of sympathy\u201d for the idea that colleges should solely focus on critical thinking rather than securing a job. However, according to Madison, this is \u201cnot a practical way to organize the entirety of a higher education institution.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople pay a lot of money to go to [Pitt], so it\u2019s legitimate to expect that one of the things that the University will do is get you ready to live not just a productive life, but it will get you ready to live a life that includes a productive career,\u201d Madison said.<\/p>\n Annette Vee, an associate professor of English who studies the intersection of computation and literacy, said she believes the Anthropic partnership is safer than a partnership with larger AI companies<\/a>, such as OpenAI, because it may have stricter data privacy policies<\/a>. Vee thinks Claude for Education is superior to ChatGPT because it is catered towards learning.<\/p>\n \u201cClaude for Education is trying out a Socratic method \u2014 a tutoring method as a default \u2014 rather than answering questions and outsourcing the cognitive work that we need students to do,\u201d Vee said.<\/p>\n In a report<\/a> Vee and other Pitt faculty conducted last year about the use of generative AI in higher education, she found that about 90% of students use generative AI tools, with the most common being ChatGPT.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Vee\u2019s findings, most students use unpaid versions of ChatGPT and Gemini. She said this is a \u201chaphazard way\u201d of using AI because of the worsened data protection<\/a> and lower overall quality.<\/p>\n \u201cI think [we should] standardize across the University one technology as much as we can,\u201d Vee said, \u201c[in] the same way that we standardize on Canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n