It’s hard to believe that it’s only been two and a half years since ChatGPT was publicly released. Five days after it launched, there were already one million users. After two months, that number soared to 100 million. To put those numbers into context, it took Netflix 3.5 years to reach one million users and Instagram 2.5 years to reach 100 million. If you had told me we were going to have a break-out technology that returns different (and sometimes incorrect) results for the same prompt, I wouldn’t have believed that. And yet, the staggering breadth of things that GenAI can do couldn’t be denied and had to be engaged.
While the speed of AI adoption has grown faster than any prior technology, Carleton’s approach to this new arrival has been impressively consistent with who we are. Carleton has forged its path through the complexity and challenges of AI with an explicit focus on curiosity and an implicit awareness that applying the College’s values to this work would mean working collaboratively, respecting individual perspectives, and bringing a pragmatic lens to when and how we should use AI.
Collaboration
The questions surrounding generative AI were not going to be answered by a small group. The Cabinet created a campus-wide AI Coordinating Team as a way to hear from different perspectives and to work together on projects from the recent survey for Students to an upcoming panel on ethics. Provost Michelle Mattson mentioned other examples in her recent Carleton Today article. I’ve learned a lot by listening to the Year of Curiosity podcasts, and being part of conversations at the Winter Conference and various LTC events. I joined hands-on Ed Tech Teas, which were organized by Wiebke Kuhn as a way for faculty and staff to learn about AI together. Another of my favorites was George Cusack’s Fall 2024 session on “Teaching AI without AI” which drew a connection between critically evaluating generative AI and the liberal arts higher order skills that our students are learning.
Individualism
This year of curiosity has included a lot of individual efforts. I have learned about many (more than 100) explorations by faculty, staff, and students. These efforts, which will be curated into a resource library over the summer, have included both promising and cautionary findings about the use of generative AI. Throughout the year, faculty have expressed their unique perspectives through their syllabus statements about AI and facilitation of numerous classroom conversations. These individual observations have been shared in both formal and informal settings, and have strengthened our institutional understanding of AI.
Pragmatism
Finally, pragmatism has guided our leadership decisions about what tools to offer and how to foster exploration. Some schools have chosen a single generative AI tool for all users, which felt like a premature over-investment to Michelle and me. Rather, Carleton provided access to several AI tools and has been exploring a solution (from Vanderbilt University) that keeps our data isolated from AI models and allows access to multiple LLMs that bill based on our usage. Our measured approach has helped us address this turbulent technology in a thoughtful way without being either overly cautious or overly enthusiastic.
Moving forward
As we move from a year of AI curiosity to a year of AI experimentation, we will have the benefit of an Educational Associate for AI Initiatives. Kieran Barker ‘25, a Cognitive Science major, will be serving in that role and working closely with both ITS and the Director of Academic AI Initiatives (George Cusack).
I want to close by acknowledging the dedicated service of Les LaCroix and Doug Foxgrover, who are retiring after decades at Carleton, and who brought deep skill and evolving curiosity to their roles. We also wish Nolan Zippel well as he moves on to a new opportunity, and express our gratitude to Iris Jastram for her partnership during her time in the Library and ITS, as she moves to Development & Alumni Relations. Please read about the new staff members who have recently joined ITS and will bring their own unique contributions to Carleton.
I wish you a good summer.