{"id":490157,"date":"2026-02-25T19:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490157\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:30:16","slug":"how-dartmouth-college-went-all-in-on-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490157\/","title":{"rendered":"How Dartmouth College went all-in on AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dartmouth leaders are not mandating the use of AI, yet critics on campus say they\u2019ve had little opportunity to adapt to what they see as a massive change to how the college works. At stake, they say, is the tight-knit academic culture Dartmouth has nurtured in rural New Hampshire over nearly three centuries as a school that focuses on the liberal arts, small student body, and deeply personal style of instruction. It\u2019s the only Ivy League institution with \u201ccollege,\u201d rather than \u201cuniversity,\u201d in its name.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no escaping [AI], and they have to figure out how to use it wisely,\u201d said Charles Fadel, the Boston-based founder of the nonprofit Center for Curriculum Redesign.<\/a> \u201cThe hard part is to accept that you are going to lose something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recent efforts at Dartmouth \u2014 touted as the birthplace of AI<\/a>, thanks to a seminal 1956 research conference<\/a> on campus \u2014 largely began with James Dobson. The English professor was appointed as the special adviser to the provost on AI and drafted a report<\/a> last year on the adoption of the technology. It recommended investing in data infrastructure and a partnership with a company like Anthropic \u2014 creator of the chatbot Claude \u2014 that would gradually integrate the tech into most facets of campus life.<\/p>\n

The report marked how far Dartmouth has to go. Dobson\u2019s own department has integrated AI in most first-year writing courses, where students sometimes compare close readings of scholarly articles to artificial intelligence-generated summaries. But he said the majority of faculty still ban the use of generative AI in their syllabuses, a \u201ctotally unenforceable\u201d measure, he added. And a survey showed that over half of participating professors had not changed their assessments to reflect AI as of last summer. <\/p>\n

For roughly a year now, some Dartmouth professors have been on edge as administrators faced<\/a> criticism<\/a> for placating the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to overhaul universities. The college is the only Ivy League not facing federal allegations of antisemitism, and Dartmouth president Sian Beilock chose not to sign a letter from universities last spring deriding the government\u2019s interference in higher education.<\/p>\n

\"SianSian Beilock, president of Dartmouth College, spoke during a panel at the Globe Summit in Boston in November.Ben Pennington\/for The Boston Globe<\/p>\n

\u201cFaculty feel in many ways under pressure politically right now. There is a sense of a lack of autonomy everywhere in the US,\u201d Dobson said. \u201cIt\u2019s unsettled us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now some professors are unnerved by the incursion of AI and how Dartmouth might be giving into pressure from tech companies that hope to market their products to students, without fully understanding the long-term ramifications. <\/p>\n

Those corporations are in an \u201carms race\u201d to provide technology on campuses, said Sydney Saubestre, a senior policy analyst at New America\u2019s Open Technology Institute. <\/p>\n

The two-year deal with Anthropic \u2014 as well as Amazon Web Services, which gives Dartmouth access to its AI platform Bedrock \u2014 was officially announced days before the December break. It dictates that Dartmouth \u2014 which has nearly 7,000 students and more than 700 faculty members \u2014 pay an undisclosed sum annually to the company in exchange for 7,300 \u201cClaude for Education\u201d licenses. A pilot rollout of 150 licenses began in mid-February. <\/p>\n

In January, the Dartmouth provost called the deal a \u201cbargain\u201d at a faculty meeting, two professors told the Globe. Dartmouth spokesperson Jana Barnello reiterated in a statement that the agreement came with \u201ca steep educational discount, using central funding\u201d that does not come from the academic budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith limited federal funding and research budgets under pressure everywhere, if we can provide access more efficiently and more cheaply for faculty, that\u2019s a win,\u201d said Dean Madden, the university\u2019s vice provost of research.<\/p>\n

Students at Dartmouth are mixed about the proliferation of AI on campus. <\/p>\n

Dartmouth sophomore Owen Gallagher said the technology is \u201cmore of an asset than a detriment\u201d in his engineering courses. <\/p>\n

But others worry about the harmful effects of AI, including its impact on the environment or how it might limit their ability to learn at a pricey institution.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Pari Sidana said she has \u201cbeen trying to avoid using AI as much as possible\u201d in her government and English courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m getting out of a reading is very different from what a chatbot is telling me,\u201d Sidana said. <\/p>\n

Dartmouth chose Anthropic among the \u201cflavors\u201d of generative chatbots available because it has touted itself as being a leader in \u201cthe ethical use of AI,\u201d Madden said. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Dartmouth Green in May 2024.Cheryl Senter<\/p>\n

But the announcement of the partnership came shortly after the company settled a class action lawsuit that accused Anthropic of training its Claude models on copyrighted books, agreeing to pay $3,000 per book to claimants, including about 130 authors who work at Dartmouth, the college\u2019s student newspaper reported<\/a>. Beilock, the president, is among those whose work was allegedly lifted by the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a decision that was made for problematic reasons that have something to do with courting the donor class, pleasing the board, and the tech euphoria we are living in right now where everybody is acting like you either jump on the bandwagon, or you\u2019re left behind in the brave new world,\u201d said Mary K. Coffey, a Dartmouth art history professor and a claimant in the Anthropic lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Barnello, the spokesperson, said the partnership \u201cdoes not mean Dartmouth endorses every decision the company has made,\u201d but rather \u201cmeans we see strategic value in shaping how AI develops in education, rather than being shaped by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students and faculty across campus have free access to Anthropic\u2019s Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and OpenAI\u2019s GPT models, and professors who implement AI into their classrooms can apply for $1,000 grants<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s capturing our everyday lives on campus in a way that is remarkable,\u201d said Molly Geidel, a women\u2019s studies professor who started a group that is resisting the speedy adoption of AI on campus. \u201cIt\u2019s all totally optional. Yet it feels like this over-the-top promotion from these upper administrators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Chin, an engineering professor who is co-chairing the faculty leadership group on AI, said that by staking partnerships and taking a lead in teaching students about AI, Dartmouth is helping to better prepare its students. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incumbent upon us as a school to think about how you should use these tools,\u201d said Chin, who is also the father of a junior at Dartmouth. He added that the goal is to use AI to \u201cenhance their ability and their cognition, never as a replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n

One example is Evergreen, a chatbot that Dartmouth students and faculty are developing to help students seeking mental health support find resources and navigate campus life, said Lisa Marsch, the founding director of Dartmouth\u2019s Center for Technology and Behavioral Health and the project lead.<\/p>\n

Although the app is still two years from launching, it is already at the center of a controversy.<\/p>\n

The student newspaper, The Dartmouth, reported<\/a> in January that the communications office approached Teddy Roberts \u2014 a student who works on Evergreen \u2014 about publishing a November op-ed <\/a>that praised the AI project. Roberts later told The Dartmouth that communications officers edited the piece before submission and that Evergreen paid him for writing the op-ed.<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of the Dartmouth College Marching Band performed outside Harvard Stadium in November before the Big Green\u2019s matchup against Harvard.Erin Clark\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story in our mind was that the college was not transparent with us and took advantage of our goodwill,\u201d Charlotte Hampton, The Dartmouth editor-in-chief, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

The Dartmouth affixed an editor\u2019s note to the November op-ed that said it \u201cno longer meets our editorial standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts declined multiple requests for comment. Barnello said the handling of the Evergreen article reflected the university\u2019s mandate to support and promote official programming.<\/p>\n

Marsch added that after the story ran, Evergreen saw a bump in applications for its undergraduate research staff that currently totals about 130 students. She sees that reaction as evidence that students want to be part of figuring out how to implement this technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cDartmouth is really trying to figure this out and lean into it,\u201d Marsch said, \u201cand not just pretend it\u2019s not there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @aidanfitzryan<\/a>. Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @ditikohli_<\/a>.<\/p>\n