On May 28, the AI in Education at Duke Summit brought together nearly 400 faculty, staff, and students from across Duke University for a day of thoughtful conversation, collaboration, and exploration of artificial intelligence’s evolving role in teaching and learning. Participants examined both the opportunities and challenges of integrating AI into education while sharing innovative approaches from across disciplines. Below are recordings and recaps from the Summit, offering an opportunity to revisit key ideas or catch up on discussions you may have missed.
Opening Remarks by Matthew Hirschey and Provost Alec Gallimore
AI in Education Strategy at Duke: Next Steps
Moderated by Joe Salem, featuring Tracy Futhey, Ricardo Henao, and Victoria Szabo.
Takeaways from the Panel Discussion: Critical Cases in AI and Education
Co-moderated by Caitlin Donovan and Brandon Fain, featuring Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Akshay Bareja, Jon Reifschneider, Sandra Roach, and Sandra Valnes Quammen
The panelists for this session requested not to be recorded, so several takeaways from anonymized notes have been summarized below.
The discussion revealed broad agreement that the primary purpose of higher education is to help students learn how to learn, develop intellectual curiosity, build disciplinary expertise, and become independent thinkers. Panelists emphasized that education is not solely about preparing students for jobs, but about cultivating the habits of mind needed for lifelong learning.
AI was viewed as both an opportunity and a challenge. While it can support learning and exploration, many participants worried that it can bypass the difficult but valuable processes through which students develop understanding, judgment, and original thought. A recurring theme was the importance of focusing on learning processes, not just final products.
Panelists acknowledged that faculty hold a wide range of views on AI and that different courses may appropriately adopt different policies. Rather than pursuing uniformity, the group emphasized the importance of transparency: clearly communicating expectations, explaining the reasoning behind policies, and engaging students in conversations about AI use.
There was also strong support for taking students’ objections to AI seriously. Ethical, environmental, and social concerns were viewed as legitimate, and many panelists argued that courses should be designed so that students can succeed without being required to use AI when possible.
Looking ahead, participants identified several open questions: how to prepare students for an AI-rich world without fostering dependence on AI, how to assess student thinking and judgment rather than AI-assisted outputs, and how educators can help students critically evaluate both the benefits and risks of emerging technologies. A notable point of tension was whether engagement with AI should be actively encouraged or approached with greater caution, though panelists generally agreed that educational goals—not technology itself—should drive those decisions.
AI Across the Disciplines: Lightning Talks
The lightning talks were a series of fast-paced, five-minute presentations highlighting how Duke faculty and staff are engaging with AI across disciplines. Speakers from the humanities, engineering, medicine, writing studies, computer science, and the environmental sciences shared practical classroom applications, emerging pedagogical approaches, and critical questions about teaching and learning in the age of AI.
Andrea Larson: If AI Can Write the Essay, What Am I Teaching?
Tomeico Faison: AI in Healthcare Education: Preparing Students for Clinical Practice
Remi Kalir: Sensemaking the Loop: How We’re Making Sense of AI-Enabled Academic Innovation
Suzanne Crifo: AI for In-Class Assessment
Hannah Taylor: Teaching Writing in the Age of AI: A Process Informed Pedagogy
Kerry Ossi-Lupo: Student-Customized Chatbots in a Writing Classroom
Debmalya Panigrahi: When Can a Model Generate a Language?
Steve McClelland: Can AI Help Students Enjoy Forming Teams?
Becky Simmons: Using AI to Support Team Formation: Student Perspectives on Using AI in Team Charter Creation
New Fundamentals in Teaching
Moderated by Aarthi Vadde, featuring Hannah Davis, Siobhan Oca, Peter Sigal, Kristin Stephens-Martinez, and Victoria Szabo
Closing Remarks by Provost Alec Gallimore
Showcase Presenters
The showcase highlighted exemplars in the use of AI in education, as well as research related to the use of AI in education, in a poster and demo session. Faculty, staff, and students were all welcome to submit posters and demos. See the showcase presenters and learn about their topics.
The AI in Education at Duke Summit was an initiative by Duke University Provost Alec Gallimore, and is organized by the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Center for Computational Thinking, Duke Libraries, the Office of Information Technology, and Duke AI Health.
