Colleges are preparing for self-lobotomy

After three years of doing virtually nothing to counter the rise of generative AI, universities are now scrambling to do too much. Over the summer, Ohio State University, where I teach, announced a new initiative that promises to “embed AI education into the core of every undergraduate curriculum and equip students with the skills not only to use AI tools, but also to understand, question, and innovate with them—regardless of their major.” Similar initiatives are being implemented at other universities, including the University of Florida and the University of Michigan. Understandably, administrators want to “future-proof” their graduates at a time when the world of work is changing rapidly. But such policies represent a dangerously hasty and uninformed response to the technology. Based on the available evidence, the skills that future graduates will need most in the AI ​​age – creative thinking, the ability to learn new things, flexible analytical methods – are the very ones that…