Cornell University is launching two initiatives that will test how artificial intelligence can be used — or deliberately limited — in classrooms across different academic fields. The work will include college-led teaching pilots and an expanded undergraduate fellows program that places students alongside faculty researchers.
The Cornell AI Initiative said the projects are designed to examine AI's benefits while protecting parts of learning that new tools may weaken. A $2 million gift from William Dake and Susan Law Dake is supporting the effort, with additional backing from the Office of the Provost.
Colleges will design discipline-specific pilots
Under the AI Integration Pilots program, Cornell deans have been asked to identify a core part of teaching in their colleges that could be redesigned through AI. That could involve a skill, academic area or course sequence.
Each college is assembling a team of three to five faculty members, including a faculty lead. The teams will propose changes to both course content and teaching methods, and may recommend using more AI, less AI or a combination of both depending on the learning goals involved.
Possible approaches include adopting tools that help students build AI skills, as well as revising assessments, assignments and course design to reduce AI use when it could interfere with essential learning. Steven Jackson, Cornell's vice provost for academic innovation, said the projects are intended to reflect the different ways teaching and learning operate across disciplines.
Teams may put their proposed changes into practice in spring 2027, fall 2027 or spring 2028. A graduate student or postdoctoral researcher will be embedded with each team for two years to assist with implementation, assessment and coordination across classes.
The Center for Teaching Innovation and the AI Innovations Lab will provide pedagogical and technical support. Participating teams are expected to assess their experiments and share results in spring or fall 2028 so other programs at Cornell can consider the findings.
Students will help evaluate classroom changes
Cornell is also expanding its AI Undergraduate Fellows program, which treats students as research partners in the university's approach to AI and education. Fellows will work inside classrooms with faculty members to identify possible uses for AI, test new teaching methods and evaluate the results.
Their research will examine learning outcomes and the student experience, contributing to Cornell's broader work on AI in teaching. Jackson said students can provide insights into classroom needs that faculty and staff may not see on their own.
The fellows are already involved in studies of AI's effects across Cornell, according to the university. The expanded program will connect that work more directly to course redesign and the experiments led by individual colleges.
The Dakes said students need to understand both the strengths and limitations of AI as they prepare for work and public life. Cornell officials said the new initiatives are intended to build that understanding through field-specific experimentation instead of a single universitywide approach.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to news@fingerlakes1.com.