- Speaking of regulations, there has been some regulations in the United States.

I wouldn't say everyone needs to go into AI, you know, that's way overblown, but like, you can go into any major that you want to go into college, don't be closed off to AI.

- [Stephanie] Opening up and having meaningful conversations about artificial intelligence is the focus for students meeting in this classroom.

- We talk about the week's developments in AI, both good and bad.

This week is a lot of bad stuff, but it dips and flows every week.

So, we educate everyone that comes to our meetings about AI and what's going on in the current world.

And then we run workshops every week where we learn how to use different tools and we learn how to apply that to our personal and professional lives.

And our main focus is really just developing students at Central Michigan for their future using AI because it's becoming very prominent.

- [Stephanie] Central AI is a registered student organization at Central Michigan University.

It's been around for about a year now.

Student president Adam Place says he has already benefited in the workforce from his experience with this group.

- One year ago, I really didn't know anything other than I used ChatGPT here and there in high school, but now I know quite a bit about a lot of different platforms.

I think that's probably the biggest positive that I could draw from most of this is just everything culminates to this bigger breadth of knowledge, which I think the more you know coming out of college is obviously going to set you apart.

And I think employers are looking for these AI skills more and more.

It got me an internship this past summer, which what set me apart was this very club.

That's what they told me in the interview.

- [Stephanie] With students encountering AI before they even enter the workforce, keeping up on the constant changes and learning how to best bring it into classrooms is a priority for higher education.

- For us, it's been just a great journey of trying to understand how it impacts teaching and learning, how does it impact research, the ethical implications of it.

And so we've been in a lot of dialogues around it.

We have implemented secure technologies, secure AI.

We've been really focused on how do we do training and programming around it, and then trying to understand the curriculum side.

We're trying to incorporate it where it makes sense, but also make sure our students understand when it's not right to use.

We don't want to shortcut education.

- [Stephanie] Among his many roles at CMU, Ben is also a special advisor on AI.

He meets monthly with leaders from other universities to share knowledge and work together in how to add it into the classroom.

- There's quite a few going through the curricular process right now, but as of right now, we do have a minor in computer science for AI to build the skills up needed.

So, anyone in the College of Science and Engineering or anyone across campus can take those from my understanding.

We have an AI certificate in the teacher area.

We have classes in the College of Business, multiple classes at the undergrad, grad level.

We have a first-year experience class being worked through.

We have a major being looked at and working through the curricular process.

- [Stephanie] Adapting and evolving with technology and job market demands is nothing new to universities.

It's the speed at which AI is prompting change that is essential in shaping the leaders of today for tomorrow.

- A university is always changing its programming.

It continues to adapt what degrees it offers and why.

You know, some of our heaviest degrees right now are on some of the healthcare because there's a strong need in those spaces.

And yeah, they also want to incorporate AI into those healthcare fields.

- [Stephanie] Now, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the next 10 years, AI is expected to drive job growth in technical sectors while possibly reducing demand in office and other customer support type roles.

While this chart is just a snapshot, most agree, AI will be integrated across professions and daily life in general.

But as important as understanding AI is, so is remembering the necessity of human interaction and connection.

- Judgment is still a human thing that we have to make our own judgment even if AI does a lot of the automation.

Who becomes our judges?

Well, it's the best lawyers and they have to think through the problem and show the empathy, show both sides, understand both sides.

Same thing with AI in this world.

I mean, how do we make students resilient?

How do I have my own kids become resilient where they can be adaptable?

For me, it's are they asking the right questions?

I think that's such an important part in an AI world.

In an AI world, you can get answers really fast, but are you asking the right questions?

You come to college, you're learning how to communicate, work with others, showing your own empathy, you know, all these, we used to call them soft skills, I guess when I was going through school.

Now, they call them resilient skills or durable skills because of AI.

Just because we have AI, we've still got to use our own thinking and judgment and be able to demonstrate that thinking process.

Don't let the AI think for you.

It's just a tool.

We've got to treat it as a tool.

It's got good and bad things.

- [Stephanie] Artificial intelligence is a tool.

Knowing how to use it and when has never been more important, especially as students and universities prepare to educate the next generation of workers and leaders.

- Biggest piece of advice I would give is just focus on knowing AI because it's going to set you apart.

It's going to be this thing where you put it on your resume as an AI skill, as you're a part of an AI club, or whatever, that we have here.

Anything like that is going to set you apart.

There might be some jobs that are eliminated, but there's also going to be new ones.

- CMU's history is always about creating lifelong learners, trying to make sure people continue to build those learning skills.

That's really what the degree is, a demonstration that people know how to learn.

And I think with all these radical changes in pretty much every industry brought on by technology, that ability to adapt and keep learning and keep changing and adapting is more important than ever.