How AI Is Forcing Academia to Evolve [Newsletter #48]

Hello, AI enthusiasts from all around the world! Welcome to the weekly newsletter for the AI and The Future of Work Podcast.

If there’s one thing we can say about AI, it’s that it has become a fixture in many sectors. But academia may be lagging behind in embracing its full potential.

For centuries we’ve looked to academia as a place to push our minds to the limit, even if tradition and formality sometimes slow things down.

This week’s issue explores what happens when AI challenges that model. Could it help the academic world rethink how we solve problems?

We also look at what universities must do to become true thought leaders in an AI-driven future, and which parts of education no AI tool will ever replace.

Let’s dive into this week’s highlights! 🚀

🎙️ New Podcast Episode With Dave Marchick, Dean of Kogod Business School

If students are using AI, they're cheating. That’s the assumption many still make, and it’s exactly the mindset Dave Marchick wants to challenge.

It started during a lecture by the CEO of a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in AI. The room was packed, and one student raised their hand.

“Am I going to be replaced by AI?”

The speaker replied, “No, you won’t be replaced by AI. But you could be replaced by someone who knows how to use it.”

For Dave, it was a light bulb moment.

As Dean of the Kogod School of Business, he knew he couldn’t afford to move slowly. If he wanted his students to be prepared for the reality of today’s workforce, he had to act quickly.

But he didn’t want to follow the traditional academic approach towards change.

Instead of launching a two-year study on how to update curriculum, he saw this moment as proof that the professional world had already changed. He viewed this opportunity as a reflection of how AI has changed the professional horizon. 

Changing on the fly is a lesson Dave brings from his own career, which spans law, business, government, and now academia.

Before becoming Dean of American University's Kogod School of Business, Dave Marchick was Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity firms in the world.

There, he led sustainability and diversity initiatives and played a key role in taking the company public.

His career also includes high-level roles in the public sector. He served in both the Biden and Clinton administrations and was Director of the Center for Presidential Transition during the 2020 election cycle.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Dave is also a podcast host, author, and active philanthropist.

He joined Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO, on the AI and the Future of Work podcast to talk about how his experience across business and government has shaped his approach to education. The conversation also covered:

• How faculty leaders are often avoidant when it comes to AI, instead of preparing their students to succeed in an AI-driven workforce

• Kogod’s initiative to integrate AI into every part of the academic curriculum, from student orientation to graduate programs

• The role of AI in tasks like writing S-1 filings, as well as helping students simulate negotiations and real-world problem solving

• Why soft skills are the skills of the future, and how Dave focuses on teaching abilities AI cannot replace, such as public speaking, teamwork, and emotional intelligence

• Kogod's efforts are experimental and may not work, but Dave believes the only way to find out is by doing

This week’s episode of AI and the Future of Work featuring Dave Marchick inspired this issue.

🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear more about his plan to turn Kogod into a model for developing AI-driven professionals for the future.

📖 AI Fun Fact Article

Penn State wanted to push AI to its limit and explore both its strengths and its flaws in higher education. To do that, they offered $10,000 in prizes to faculty and staff nationwide.

The university's Center for Socially Responsible AI launched a "Cheat-A-Thon" to test just how far generative AI can go in academic settings.

As Jonathan Ford writes in Penn State Online, the idea is simple. Faculty submit tough questions from exams, projects, or assignments along with the ideal human-written answer. Then, students try to answer, but here's the catch. 

Students can only use AI. 

They can't use other tools, like search engines or even libraries! This forces students to question whether AI is truly giving them the right answer, sparking creativity and reasoning. 

Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO, applauds Penn State's creativity and self-awareness. After all, students are using AI to improve the quality of their output—whether or not it's encouraged. 

As we've discussed in this issue, using AI shouldn't compromise the learning experience. Instead, students should be encouraged to learn to augment their work with AI in their professional future. 

So, it's naive and wrong to expect general bans on AI to work. Embracing AI is the right approach for academia, just like every other industry. 

Worth a Read! 📚

📣 Share your Thoughts and Leave a Review!

Until next time, stay curious! 🤔

That's a Wrap for This Week!

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