March 2025

In the March faculty meeting, the governing faculty voted to approve a new undergraduate minor in Human-Centered AI to be offered by the school starting this Fall 2025 term. The learning objectives of the program are:

• Demonstrate AI Literacy Across Technical and Social Dimensions: Explain how AI systems function at a conceptual level (programming, machine learning fundamentals, training data, bias and model limitations) and analyze the historical, social, economic, and political forces that have shaped AI’s development and adoption. 

• Practice Ethical Reasoning About AI Use and Its Consequences: Identify the potential risks of AI in amplifying inequalities, automating bias, reinforcing surveillance structures or disrupting labor markets, and explore strategies to mitigate harm or advocate against harmful implementation of AI when necessary.

• Critically Assess AI’s Appropriateness: Identify both the opportunities and limitations of AI tools in specific use cases, weighing accuracy, bias, ethical trade-offs, and unintended consequences to explore when AI use could be appropriate, and when it should be avoided.

• Explore Practical AI Use Cases: Investigate and examine how AI technologies can be implemented to address real-world challenges, such as optimizing processes, automating repetitive tasks, or enhancing decision-making.

• Communicate the Implications of AI Systems and Applications: Explain the potential impacts, benefits, and risks of AI systems and their applications in accessible language tailored to audiences relevant to students’ disciplines and/or areas of professional interest. Emphasize transparency, inclusivity, and accountability in discussing AI technologies, focusing on their outcomes, implications, and relevance to the audience’s needs.

The heart of the program will be two courses that will train students in different aspects of AI, and then a series of electives offered by UMSI and other programs at UM that can help students become more aware users of this exciting and sometimes frightening new technology.