Howard Students And Professors Debate Role Of AI In Learning

Debate over how students should use artificial intelligence is growing across HBCUs, and Howard University is no exception.

By Armani Durham

The debate over how students should use artificial intelligence is growing across historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and Howard University is no exception.

In Washington, D.C., these views differ across Howard University’s campus, with some professors and students supporting AI and others opposing it.

Robert Hill, a Howard student, uses AI as a tool to assist him in his academic life and believes that negative views of AI stem from people’s doubt that they can control it.

“In all reality, I feel that AI is a tool that is controlled by a person, so the more people realize that they have control over AI and not the other way around, I feel that it would become a positive [stereotype],” Hill said.

According to a joint report by Huston-Tillotson University, Ellucian, and the United Negro College Fund, 98% of HBCU students, 96% of faculty, and 81% of administrators have used AI tools.

At North Carolina Central University, a new Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research (IAIER) was introduced, aiming to inform the campus and beyond about how to use AI across all aspects of their lives.

Elvin Darko, a student at Howard, is quite familiar with AI, as he majors in computer information systems.

Some professors in Howard’s School of Business support the use of AI, including Darko’s e-business professor.

“One of my professors [told the class that] anyone…who isn’t using AI, is going to get left behind,” Darko said.

Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb, a professor in Howard’s School of Communications, believes that students’ use of AI should be communicated to professors and varies across majors.

“Students have to be sure that they’re transparent with their professors and that their professors have given them permission to [use AI],” Lamb said. “It [also] depends on their major.”

Rice Lamb has informed her students that they may use AI when conducting research for assignments, as long as she is made aware of the tool used, but she does not allow them to use AI for articles.

“For our core in journalism, I don’t think it works for the articles because it’s a trust issue and an ethical issue in dealing with the public,” Lamb said. “I think there’s so much misinformation and disinformation out there that we have to be careful.”

The criticism of AI being used by college students stems from the uncertainty that students will use it ethically. Despite this uncertainty, some students believe that AI should be encouraged on campuses, as they may encounter it in their career fields after college.

“I mean, if [students are] going to be able to use it after school, why not use it in school?” Darko said. “If every company is pretty much using AI now, I think we should be able to use it in school as well.”