About the Committee
Charged by Chancellor Melissa Nobles, Provost Anantha Chandrakasan, and Chair of the Faculty Roger Levy
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming how we live, work, and play. Here at MIT, our instructors and students are widely using large language models (LLMs) both in and out of the classroom. It is urgent that we organize our educational and research enterprise to understand how AI is already being used and how the people of MIT can best use it in the future to advance the Institute's educational, research, and innovation mission. Importantly, that mission includes a commitment to preserving the human values crucial to human flourishing.
We charge the “Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training” to examine and offer recommendations to address both the opportunities and challenges AI presents for teaching, learning, and graduate research training. Given the pace of change, we ask that the Committee seek out best practices and lessons emerging from other universities. The committee’s recommendations will inform the work of standing Institute faculty committees dedicated to our curriculum and academic policies, as well as the instructional and research practices in our departments, labs, and centers.
Specifically, we ask that this committee:
Assess current use: Survey and document how instructors are integrating AI into their teaching and grading practices. The committee will also assess how students are integrating GenAI into their own study habits and assignments. What concerns do instructors have about AI use in teaching, and what drives those concerns? Similarly, how do students judge the benefits and liabilities of AI use in their own approaches to learning, assignment completion, and research? For faculty and students, what factors currently limit their access to AI tools?
Identify innovations in teaching and student assessment: Highlight effective strategies for using AI to further teaching, research, and student assessment goals while maintaining academic integrity. Provide a working definition of what “AI literacy” should mean for MIT students and provide recommendations on how to achieve such literacy. The committee will also consider ways to support and manage curricular innovations, in light of ongoing improvements in GenAI technologies.
Propose AI use policy: Propose a set of general principles and guidance for AI use in coursework, in theses, and across the range of issues connected to academic life. Recommend necessary IS&T policies and infrastructure to both make sure that students have equitable access to AI systems and that the Institute can develop innovative approaches to teaching and research.
Timeline: We expect the committee to be convened in December 2025 and to submit its final recommendations in the spring of 2026. The co-chairs will keep the Provost, Chancellor, and Chair of the Faculty apprised of progress on a regular basis.