Illustration by Chiara Vercesi

The 桔子视频 & Sciences announced in March that students will be able to enroll in a nine-credit undergraduate certificate in artificial intelligence starting this fall. 

As part of the program, students are required to complete one course each from three domains: The Problem of AI, which examines ethical, social and political dimensions of AI; The Science of AI, which focuses on understanding how systems work and their capabilities and limitations; and The Application of AI, which explores the practical use of AI tools in disciplinary and professional contexts. 

, the dean of the College, explained in a panel in late March, that Problem of AI is a 鈥渃heeky nod鈥� to one of Georgetown鈥檚 signature courses, The , where undergraduate students critically examine religious dimensions of human nature and reflect on their own experience with religion.

鈥淚n the same way in which the word 鈥榩roblem鈥� has about eight different meanings as it鈥檚 used in Problem of God, the same applies in many ways for artificial intelligence,鈥� Edelstein said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a problem, and it鈥檚 a challenge. We need to think about the impact it鈥檚 having.鈥�

Edelstein moderated the Problem of AI panel that featured , the director of the Center for Digital Ethics; , an assistant professor in the Department of Government; , a professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science; and , a professor in the Department of English. Each faculty member brought their own perspective and expertise to the conversation on how the College is approaching the questions AI raises and how it is developing curriculum to prepare students to engage with AI thoughtfully and deliberately. 

鈥淲hat is incumbent upon us as a community is a sustained critical engagement with this technology, to understand the way that the technology is affecting our society and everything we do,鈥� Edelstein said. 

The Joy of Inquiry 

One of the goals of liberal arts is to cultivate the joy of inquiry. The introduction of AI can be seen as a threat to that, as Edelstein posed to the panelists. 

鈥淲hen we have tools around us that make our lives super easy, we tend to use them,鈥� Singh said. 

The question reminded her of a moment from teaching 15 years ago, where she realized that Google had revolutionized how her students memorized and learned information.

鈥淭his is the moment where we have to reinvent that joy of inquiry in different ways, and we can,鈥� Singh said. 鈥淎I doesn’t have to rob us of that. It just means that we have to think more deeply about new pathways to capturing that type of inquiry we care most about.鈥�

Fisher, the founding director for , believes that there are approaches to education where AI is not a threat and that students are invested in developing certain cognitive tools. He hopes that students can think of their pedagogical experience as development of certain capacities or the cultivation of curiosity. 

“When they are curious, there is genuine motivation to learn,鈥� said Fisher, whose research focuses on the history and future of democratic thought. 鈥淏ut if students are really only encouraged to think about the grade or the outcomes or they鈥檙e really anxious about balancing many different priorities, I think AI is an obvious solution to that.鈥� 

Hensley warned that usage of AI can lead to cognitive offloading and deskilling and noted that the continual expansion of AI will ultimately make studying the humanities .

鈥淚 can testify that many of us see this as a paradoxical moment of revitalization: a chance to reinvest in the core functions of the liberal arts enterprise,鈥� he said.

DeNardis, the inaugural endowed chair in who is teaching the flagship Problem of AI course as part of the College鈥檚 certificate program, cautioned the audience against thinking of AI purely as large language models. AI, she added, is already in everything from cybersecurity to drug discovery, and can aid in the pursuit of knowledge. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the world that students are entering, and we have to prepare them for that,鈥� DeNardis said.

The Future of AI 

Edelstein asked the panelists to look into the future as AI continues to proliferate and evolve.

Will AI be seen as a moment that fell short of its promises? Will it spread even further and have a revolutionary effect on society? Or will it be somewhere in between?

DeNardis believes that AI will only continue to grow and be transformational in our lives. She hopes that as it progresses, reasonable governance frameworks will be developed to address some of the safety challenges that arise during these moments of transformation.

鈥淚 think AI is going to get astronomically large as it moves into the solar-system internet and space networks,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I think it’s going to get infinitesimally small as it moves into nanotechnologies and medical devices.鈥�

Fisher can imagine one of two scenarios. 

The first, he said, is one where an acceptance of AI leads to passivity, where people begin to see AI as a way of offloading or outsourcing desires by having them met without much effort. 鈥淚 think that opens up to a really dangerous world, not only which bridges various forms of authoritarianism, but also just extreme forms of human disenchantment,鈥� Fisher said.

The second scenario is one where people figure out how to recenter humans and think about AI as something that can add to their abilities. In that case, AI would be something that is viewed as a tool where humans are still responsible agents, Fisher said. 

For Singh, this generation of AI has already transformed society in the core ways that it will. It is the next generation of AI that will bring new types of transformations. But even before that next generation, large tech companies, she said, will continue getting new technologies out as fast as they can.

鈥淚f governance frameworks and entities like universities don鈥檛 ensure ethical use of AI, then we could see it used in ways we may not want it to be used,鈥� Singh said. 

Hensley envisions a world where the proliferation of AI will need to confront the limits in the physical world that requires large data centers to power AI. Through it all, he said, the importance of human connection will remain. 

鈥淚 think these residual areas in which people can find each other and be real with each other in physical spaces will be more and more important,鈥� Hensley said. 

The certificate is grounded in a liberal arts approach where students will be prepared to engage critically and responsibly with AI. It will help them be informed citizens and ethical decision-makers who understand not only how to use AI tools but also how to shape AI鈥檚 role in society.

This 鈥渨ill provide an accessible introduction to the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence to our students,鈥� said , the dean of the 桔子视频 & Sciences. 鈥淗ow we teach our students about this technology is a complicated question, and I believe this is an important first step.鈥�

The College, which boasts an expansive range of majors, minors and certificates, is uniquely positioned to be a leader in the AI space. This new certificate will serve students who study a variety of disciplines, including government majors who will craft AI policy, pre-health students navigating the use of algorithmic medicine and humanities students examining AI鈥檚 impact on creativity and human identity.

鈥淭he College has expertise on both the underlying science contributing to artificial intelligence and the ethical and societal implications of the technology,鈥� Edelstein said. 鈥淭his combination positions us to be a leader in the study and teaching of artificial intelligence.鈥�

A Liberal Arts Approach

The certificate鈥檚 curriculum takes a liberal arts approach that treats AI鈥檚 most pressing challenges as fundamentally human. 

Students will be required to complete three courses, one each from three domains: The Problem of AI, which examines ethical, social and political dimensions of AI; The Science of AI, which focuses on understanding how systems work and their capabilities and limitations; and The Applications of AI, which explores the practical use of AI tools in disciplinary and professional contexts. 

鈥淲hat excites me about this certificate is that it is grounded in the College鈥檚 own strengths: interdisciplinary, liberal arts approaches to contemporary problems that draw on scientific, humanistic and social-scientific perspectives,鈥� said , the College鈥檚 vice dean for undergraduate education.

More than 60 courses taught within the last three years in the College have engaged seriously with AI, Lorenson said, on topics ranging from philosophy and linguistics to economics, music and anthropology. These and other future courses for the certificate will be tagged under one of the three course domains and are designed to help students understand AI鈥檚 technical foundations, evaluate its societal implications and deploy it responsibly in disciplinary contexts.

鈥淚’m hopeful that students will gain unique, multidisciplinary and practical perspectives on the risks, possibilities and ethics of artificial intelligence,鈥� said , an associate professor in the Department of History. 鈥淭here may be no issue that more profoundly shapes their lives.鈥�

鈥淏eing part of this initiative feels like contributing to something both timely and enduring 鈥� equipping students to understand both the technology and its role in society,鈥� added , an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science. 鈥淚鈥檓 especially excited to bring elements of AI science and AI safety to the broader Georgetown undergraduate community.鈥�

Some courses may fit more than one category, but students must still complete nine total credits to earn the certificate. The wide variety of options allows students the opportunity to select courses that correspond with their academic disciplines. These courses can also count toward major, minor and core requirements.

鈥淭he basic structure of this certificate mirrors the structure of other curricula that we’ve established around interdisciplinary, 鈥榳icked problems,鈥� including climate change,鈥� Degroot said. 鈥淭o really understand them, you need to study in many academic disciplines. This certificate recognizes that the continued development of AI is a scientific and engineering challenge that has fundamental philosophical, theological, economic, environmental, cultural and political dimensions and consequences.鈥�

Georgetown鈥檚 Jesuit Values

The certificate aligns with Georgetown鈥檚 and its of bringing a human-centered and ethically informed approach to AI.

As this technology continues to advance and evolve at a rapid pace, questions and concerns about AI, including issues of algorithmic bias, data privacy, environmental impact, misinformation and , require not just technical expertise but skills that define a liberal arts education.

Students in this certificate program will lean into their ability to analyze across disciplines, explore ethical reasoning grounded in diverse philosophical traditions and navigate complex challenges. 

The certificate also emphasizes Georgetown鈥檚 Jesuit tradition of and fosters a culture of critical thinking and commitment to civic responsibility and social action.

鈥淟ike all of the university’s engagement with artificial intelligence, we are foregrounding the implications for humans and society in our consideration of this emerging technology,鈥� Edelstein said. 鈥淕eorgetown will be a leader in understanding the societal and ethical implications of artificial intelligence, and we will produce graduates prepared to lead with sound, ethically-informed judgment as they encounter AI in their lives after Georgetown.鈥�

The semester-long program will be piloted this fall through a partnership between the CALL, the 桔子视频 & Sciences, and the , Georgetown鈥檚 hub for educational innovation. Launchpad is a distinct cohort pathway within the CALL ecosystem. It is designed to build upon and amplify CALL鈥檚 professional development focus with more concentrated skill development, challenge-based learning and close engagement with employers, for a smooth transition to lifelong learning after Georgetown. 

The program features a signature course where students will collaborate with industry professionals and learn to effectively use AI systems to solve complex, real-world challenges.

Launchpad 鈥渋s about helping students translate their liberal arts education into purpose, action and impact after graduation,鈥� said , the associate director for strategic integration with the Red House. 鈥淚t’s also about translation, helping students realize and then articulate the real capacities they’ve developed in this environment that translate to the workplace.鈥�

Tackling Real-World Challenges

While Launchpad is being designed as a dynamic experience for seniors, students across all class years are welcome to apply for the Fall 2026 cohort. Those interested in participating should and attend an information session.聽

Students apply using , which is open until March 29. Late applications for Launchpad will be considered based on availability. 

鈥淚 hope students who join this program will be able to enter their next step with a deeper sense of clarity and purpose, along with more precision preparation to achieve that purpose,鈥� Howard said.

The centerpiece and anchor course for the Fall 2026 Launchpad cohort will be a new project-based, three-credit course, Wicked Problems: Learning to Plan and Decide in Human鈥揂I Teams. The course is taught by , a professor of practice in the School of Foreign Service and senior fellow in the and the Red House. A one-credit Launchpad Studio complements Wicked Problems with personalized coaching and mentoring, employer conversations and structured reflection.

Organizations invited to join the class may include financial institutions, consulting firms and public-interest nonprofit organizations, Murdick said. Throughout the course, students will team up with executives from participating companies and utilize customized AI tools to help define problems, evaluate options and plan responses to real-world wicked problems, which are complex challenges that are hard to define and lack simple solutions because they involve uncertainty, incomplete information and competing values. 

Both the students and industry professionals will benefit from collaborating and gaining more knowledge of artificial intelligence, Murdick said. 

鈥淭his is an environment to learn in,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t gives executives the opportunity to see emerging talent. 鈥nd students can have a lower stakes environment where they can get face time with senior people and work through problems together.鈥�

Advancing Applied Liberal Arts

Launchpad pushes forward the notion of applied liberal arts, Howard said.

A major goal of the program is to affirm the value of a liberal arts education, while helping students recognize that the critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills they鈥檝e gained during their time at Georgetown can be applied directly to their careers in a variety of professions. 

Murdick said it is common for students to graduate without fully recognizing the skills they鈥檝e learned. Launchpad is meant to uncover that more clearly.

鈥淪tudents often have more skills than they realize,鈥� Murdick said. 鈥淲ith Launchpad, we want to help them see how their education has built real capacity and how that capacity can be translated to have real-world impact.鈥�

And each one is watching and observing our behaviors, said AI pioneer . In that way, he believes, AIs behave not like machines of the 20th century but more like 鈥渁rtificial children.鈥� Similar with human children, people must parent their AI children responsibly, argues De Kai, whose surname is Wu but goes by his given name professionally.

鈥淭he question I’m asking is, how’s your parenting? Because these artificial kids for the last 20 years already have been by far the most massively powerful influencers in our societies,鈥� De Kai said in an interview. 

That is one of the main messages in his new book, Raising AI: An Essential Guide to Parenting Our Future, and something he reiterated in as part of the co-hosted by the Georgetown Humanities Initiative and the Center for Digital Ethics.

, the director of the Georgetown Humanities Initiative, introduced De Kai as 鈥渙ne of the most important voices about AI and the ethics of AI in the world.鈥�

The event also featured remarks from , the dean of the 桔子视频 & Sciences, and a panel discussion with De Kai, , the director of the Center for Digital Ethics, and , the executive director of the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS). 

鈥淲e tend to talk about ethics and AI in very general terms,鈥� Pireddu said. 鈥淚 think what makes De Kai鈥檚 book unique is its attention to specific elements that call for concrete responsibilities each of us must take on.鈥�

‘We Are the Training Data’

De Kai has been working in AI research for decades. 

He holds a joint appointment at the 鈥檚 Department of Computer Science and Engineering and at the in Berkeley, California. 

The event at Georgetown came together after Katy Bohinc (C鈥�07) saw an email last year from the office of , a professor in the Department of French and Francophone Studies and then the interim dean of the College. The email mentioned Pireddu and the opening of a dedicated space for the Georgetown Humanities Initiative.  

Bohinc, a mathematics and global and comparative literature major, was thrilled. Pireddu was her comparative literature advisor and Sobanet served as her thesis advisor during her time at Georgetown. She had just finished editing Raising AI 鈥� De Kai credits her as his 鈥渇irst editor鈥� in the book 鈥� and suggested bringing De Kai to the Hilltop.

鈥淚 have an absolutely wonderful network of Georgetown in my life,鈥� Bohinc said.

She sat in the front row in Gaston Hall as De Kai spoke to a crowd of more than 200 people that included Georgetown faculty, staff, students and community members. A group of more than 30 students, along with their law and government teacher, Monte Bourjaily, from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology also attended.

In the talk, De Kai said he believes that the public discourse around AI lends itself to asking the wrong questions. AIs are not toasters, steam engines, carburetors or electric fans 鈥� they are embedded in our social fabric. Guardrails and regulations alone aren鈥檛 going to save us, he said.

鈥淲e are the training data,鈥� De Kai said during his presentation. 鈥淲hatever I continue to do with my colleagues on the regulatory side, whatever I continue to do with my colleagues at tech companies on guardrails, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re the parental role models. Those of you who work in AI or machine learning will understand there’s only a few things we really control. We control the training data.鈥�

AIs decide what pops up on our screens 鈥� and perhaps even more importantly, what we don鈥檛 see 鈥� something De Kai describes as 鈥渁lgorithmic censorship.鈥� That is connected to a phenomenon De Kai calls 鈥渘eginformation,鈥� which as 鈥渕isleading facts that manipulate you not through deception, but through what鈥檚 left unsaid.鈥� 

The potential consequences of that are dire, De Kai warns. 

鈥淲hen we don’t know something about other groups, about other perspectives, another unconscious bias is that we fear what we don’t know,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd fear tends to slide into anger and hatred, and that slides into demonization, which slides into dehumanization.鈥�

Responsible Parenting

De Kai wants his book to be a call to action.

鈥淲e are the last generation of humans that gets to parent AIs. All the future generations of AIs are going to be parented primarily by AIs in the labs,鈥� he said during his presentation. 鈥淲e have one last shot at getting this right.”

Being a responsible parent means being mindful of what is being consumed and how you interact with it online. 

In his book, De Kai shares recommendations on how to better raise our AIs.

鈥淭each your AIs to look for more diverse opinions,鈥� he writes. 鈥淏reak the echo chambers. Click more on stories framed in contrasting perspectives, on stories explaining other cultures. Try to re-orientate your perspective 鈥� especially when the technologists and policymakers still haven鈥檛 gotten it right. Teach your AIs to be polite and respectful. 鈥楲ike鈥� or 鈥楽hare鈥� reasoned, fact-based, respectful discussions 鈥� not insults, offensive wording or trolling.鈥�

AI has the potential to be the most transformative tool invented to address the destructive power of biases, De Kai said, but major changes need to be made. We can all play a part.

鈥淲e have only survived today because parents do their best,鈥� he said.

(Photos by Lisa Helfert for Georgetown University)