As a scholar deeply immersed in both technology and philosophy, James Brusseau, PhD, has spent years unraveling the complex ethics of artificial intelligence (AI).

“As it happens, I was a physics major in college, so I've had an abiding interest in technology, but I finally decided to study philosophy,” Brusseau explains. “And I did not see much of an intersection between the scientific and my interest in philosophy until all of a sudden artificial intelligence landed in our midst with questions that are very philosophical.”

Some of these questions are heavy, with Brusseau positing an example, “If a machine acts just like a person, does it become a person?” But AI’s implications extend far beyond the theoretical, especially when it comes to the impact on education, learning, and career outcomes. What role does AI play in higher education? Is it a tool that enhances learning, or does it risk undermining it? And how do universities prepare students for an AI-driven world?

In a conversation that spans these topics, Brusseau shares his insights on the place of AI in higher education, its benefits, its risks, and what the future holds.

What is AI's place in higher education?

I do have an opinion on higher education and AI, and it's controversial, but on this matter, all opinions are controversial. I think, at this point, it's my instinct to say that AI—more than anything else—is just a tool. That is, I do not think it is capable of producing thought as you and I do.

For example, when you look at AI-generated art, there's always some little tell that it's machine-made. There'll be six fingers on a hand, or it’s too perfect, or too symmetrical. The human eye can detect when AI has created art. And I think that of course AI will constantly get better, but I think there will always be that sense that you and I will have that an artificial intelligence has created art.

I think that if AI alone is the professor, then the knowledge students get will be imperfect in the same vaguely definable way that AI art is imperfect.

And I think that that’s also true for knowledge—knowledge about philosophy, about journalism, knowledge about the kinds of things we teach at Pace. I think that if AI alone is the professor, then the knowledge students get will be imperfect in the same vaguely definable way that AI art is imperfect.

My broad opinion is that AI is just a tool. It's not actual intelligence itself. And for that reason, its effects in higher education will be somewhat limited, though I think that in a couple of ways, they’ll be very significant.

What are some of the benefits of integrating AI in learning?

AI, at least in my experience, allows us to learn about things very quickly. I mean, I just know in my professional work, I'm asking fairly specialized questions.

For example, I'm writing a paper now about art and creativity, and I was writing about an author called Walter Benjamin, who is a fairly narrowly known philosophical writer, and I asked ChatGPT a very specific question about what this author thought about a specific painting, and it gave me a good answer. And I checked a book I have on the author to make sure, and it was right.

So one thing that AI will do is provide very specific and personalized information for students and professors very quickly.

What are some of the concerns about AI in higher education?

I think that is fairly clear: It's the over-reliance on AI. I have already seen students relying on it for their work. Sometimes students forget that professors, like me, were also students once in the past. And so, they don't imagine that when I write an exam, I might give that exam to ChatGPT to see what ChatGPT says. And then when the student does the same thing, right away I can see that they have used AI, because I got almost exactly the same answer from ChatGPT.

I think that the risk of AI is that the students will become sloppy, they will become careless. They will let AI, in essence, do their work. And I think that's a legitimate downside.

How can universities and professors assess true student understanding of a topic or concept?

It’s my belief that oral exams will make a comeback. During my summer semester at the University of Trento in Italy, we had, for the first time, purely oral exams for my classes. For the midterm exam, I had the students gather into groups and do presentations on AI ethics and then for the final exam, I had each student do a presentation alone.

So one thing that AI will do is provide very specific and personalized information for students and professors very quickly.

That kind of just human interaction, I think, one, it's a very good learning experience for the student. It's hard to stand up in front of your colleagues and talk, it's a learned skill. I think that we should promote that more going forward.

But I think also, two, that's a way to discover whether or not the student actually learned and did the work. And when students know that there is an oral exam at the end, I think that will in some sense force them to do more of the learning. And I think that will help students focus learning from AI instead of letting AI do the learning for them.

What do you think will be the overall impact of AI on student learning?

I think that the big change that we're going to see from AI is not so much in how education works, but how students, more than ever, are going to be responsible for their own education. Students who want to learn a lot are going to be able to learn more, faster. However, students who are clever and really just want to get through, I think they are also going to be empowered to do that in numerous ways.

For example, part of what is discovered in the traditional research process is tangential to the initial goal. If a student wants to write about how previous scholars have understood the idea of privacy, they will need to comb through several texts and likely make some unexpected discoveries about the subject. But, with ChatGPT, they can go directly to the required information. That helps with their grade, but detracts from their intellectual curiosity.

Students, more than ever, are going to be responsible for their own education.

In education, I think we're going to see a growing level of inequality in outcomes. Some students are going to graduate with educations that are pristine, that are at levels that could not have been even reached 20 years ago, because they will have been able to use AI to research so deeply into a subject they enjoy. But I’m afraid, we are also going to see some graduates who have been able to fake it, in essence, the whole four years.

There are a lot of fears about AI taking jobs. What are your thoughts on how AI will affect career opportunities?

There will be some transformation in jobs. Jobs will change. But just my own experience tells me that there's more opportunities than losses.

Let me give you an example. Seidenberg’s Christelle Scharff and I wrote a paper about how AI can be used to help clothing designers produce new kinds of clothes. A really interesting application. I never would have thought of that. People think about AI for doing healthcare. They think about AI for making weapons and destroying the world and that kind of thing. But I never would have thought about artificial intelligence and clothing design.

So, this is a terrific opportunity for someone from Pace. We have courses on design and the arts, and we have a computer science school. That's an opportunity for someone from Pace to create a kind of job for themselves, right? So, my sense is that AI will do more of that creation than destruction. Of course, there will be destruction, but for people who are ambitious and creative, I think the opportunities are there.

Want to join the AI discussion? RSVP for the upcoming AI user groups kickoff meetings, a new initiative from the Provost's Committee on Artificial Intelligence.

Associate Professors of Psychology Brenna Hassinger-Das, PhD, and Leora Trub, PhD, along with Paulette Didia, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist, co-authored a study, “Stuck in the DMs: The Association between Introversion/Extraversion and Self-Confidence through Text-Based Communication,” in Psychology of Popular Media, about how the impact of texting affects both introverts’ and extroverts’ self-confidence.

Hassinger-Das and Trub both teach courses in the BA in Psychology program on the New York City campus. Their study sheds light on how the motivations behind texting — whether to express oneself or to escape from reality — might influence the self-confidence of individuals with varying degrees of introversion or extraversion. The findings reveal some surprising relationships between personality dispositions, texting motivations, and self-confidence. They aim to explore whether the reasons people use texting—either to express themselves or to escape from uncomfortable situations—might alter the relationship between personality traits like introversion or extraversion and self-confidence.

In an article on MSN about the study, Trub said “In a world where people are constantly looking for simple answers and solutions (e.g. Is technology good or bad?), the fact is that the impact of technology (and in this study, texting specifically) differs based on the interaction between multiple things (in this study, personality characteristics and people’s motivations for texting).”

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Environmental Science student from coal-mining town leads efforts to make the New York City campus more green and sustainable.

How did you become interested in environmental science?

Environmentalism has always been my passion. The natural world is not only what sustains us, but it is also a fundamental part of our culture and society, and if we lose it, we will lose a part of what it means to be human. For such reasons, I chose to pursue an environmental science degree. I wanted to obtain knowledge and develop a background on the environmental issues that the world faces, and learn about the history of the environmental movement, so that I am better able to apply strategies used in the past to implement sustainable practices and projects today.

Can you tell me more about the Pace Sustainability Initiative (PSI) and your role as president?

The Pace Sustainability Initiative was created to start an environmental movement at Pace. We wanted the club to inspire and motivate students by showing them that students anywhere can make a big difference in the world. Movements like PSI have always relied on passionate people to blur the lines between the possible and impossible. The initiative aims at organizing and mobilizing these passionate individuals. Our philosophy is that of [American architect and urban designer] Daniel Burnham’s “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood,” a quote that stresses the point that nothing is too big for PSI, whether it is installing a green roof on campus, reducing water use by millions of gallons yearly, or stopping micro-plastic pollution on campus. One of the key features that give this initiative so much power is its great coordination and organization, and my role as president is to bring together student concerns, project, events, meetings, and people.

Pace University allows me to be on the front lines of the environmental movement, and provides me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself.

PSI has seen some very successful initiatives under your leadership, which have both improved student life and saved the University money.

The Pace Sustainability Initiative has created numerous events and projects in its short two-year span. Upon its creation, the founding members and I drafted an extensive proposal to install low flow faucet aerators at One Pace Plaza and all the surrounding dorms. These aerators would infuse air with the faucet water and, in return, reduce the amount of water used by up to 75%. The Pace Administration was very happy to work with us and implemented the project in the summer of 2018 on all faucets in One Pace Plaza and all the dorms, except the one on John Street. The initiative estimates that the faucet aerator project has saved the University an average of 2,688,781 gallons of water and $35,479 annually.

Your work to make the New York City campus greener continues, including an exciting proposal for the next level of the Master Plan.

The faucet aerator project provided momentum to create several other initiatives. The recycling station initiative, for example, has been a great success. PSI has circulated descriptive recycling labels to all recycling containers on campus, in an effort to cut down on recycling contamination, and we will be expanding these labels to all the dorms, 41 Park Row, and 163 William Street during the fall semester. In addition, among many ongoing initiatives, our main focus has been proposing and campaigning for the creation of a green roof on One Pace Plaza’s fourth floor roof. A green roof is a vegetative layer on the roof of a building that improves storm water runoff, lowers the urban heat island effect, reduces noise and air pollution, and provides a habitat for wildlife. If all goes as planned, the second phase of the Master Plan will include the implementation of a green roof!

As if you aren’t already busy, have you been active on campus in other ways?

I am also the secretary of UNICEF’S Pace University branch, a very new creation that will start outreach, fundraising, and education next semester! UNICEF’s main goal is making sure that no children die from preventable causes, so as the UNICEF club, we will be conducting events that will increase awareness of these significant issues and, most importantly, raise funds that will go overseas to help the most vulnerable children. I am also currently a member of the GreenPace committee, an organization that includes faculty members, staff, student interests, and administrative directors. We meet once a month to discuss various environmental initiatives on the New York City and Pleasantville campuses and our goal is to promote and share environmental initiatives. PSI often presents its projects to the committee for feedback and advice.

Where are you from originally?

I am from the former coal town of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. One can see how the legacy of coal has built the town, but one can also take notice of the effects deindustrialization has had on a formerly manufacturing and extraction-based community. It is with this lesson that I come to New York to promote sustainable development, i.e., the creation of a diverse and sustainable economy based away from the extraction of resources and towards a primarily service and renewable energy- based economy.

What is it about Pace that made you come here?

Pace University allows me to be on the front lines of the environmental movement, and provides me the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself. I always felt like New York City was the place where history could be made any day, and I wanted to be a part of it when that happens.

What have your experiences with the Environmental Studies and Science Department been like?

Melanie Dupuis, PhD, the department chair, and Anne Toomey, PhD, the Pace Sustainability Initiative faculty advisor, have both been a tremendous help. We have always been able to rely on them for feedback and support with several events we have done. The faculty is always proactive in helping out the initiative and they host many intriguing environmental events around the city and campus.

What would you like to do after graduation/what are your career goals?

I really enjoy the work I am doing with PSI and would like to continue doing similar work with a non-profit or government entity in New York City.  Working on and eventually managing environmental, educational, and sustainability projects in the city would be a career goal of mine.

What is the most important advice you can provide to current students?

The greatest regrets in my life are the actions I never made and the opportunities I never took. My advice to anyone would be to always grab opportunities when they arise and always make the choices that allow you to become the person you want yourself to be. The difference between the person you are meant to be and the person who lives with regrets could be a single decision lost in time. Be who you need to be!

Dr. Christelle Scharff, Seidenberg Professor, Associate Dean, and Co-Director of the Seidenberg AI Lab, has had quite a busy summer by marking several significant achievements that reflect her expertise in AI research and innovation, as well as her active engagement in global academic and professional communities.

Dr. Scharff represented the Seidenberg School and Pace University at the prestigious Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Summit in Salt Lake City. Themed "The Future is AI. The Future is Human," the summit brought together industry leaders, technologists, professional athletes, and academics to explore the work of TCS in many different industries, including education. The main emphasis of the summit was sport and its many dimensions, and attendees had the unique opportunity to interact with Olympic champions such as Lindsay Vonn and John Shuster. Dr, Scharff said that "as a sports fan, it was a thrill to stay in the Olympic spirit of Paris 2024, and even try my hand at curling!" She added that she was honored to meet so many TCS employees and partners, and to exchange ideas about the intersection of artificial intelligence and human-centered innovation.

In addition to her active participation in international summits, Dr. Scharff's commitment to advancing AI research continues to gain recognition. Her latest collaborative research paper written with Seidenberg students Samyak Rakesh Meshram, Krishna Mohan Bathula, Fnu Kaleemunnisa, and Om Gaikhe, and titled "Towards AI-Generated African Textile Patterns with StyleGAN and Stable Diffusion," has been accepted for publication and will be presented at the upcoming International Conference on AI-based Systems and Services (AISys) in September.

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The research paper explores the generation of African wax designs using advanced AI architectures like StyleGAN2-ADA, StyleGAN3, and Stable Diffusion. The study leverages a curated synthetic dataset of 2,000 images and evaluates the designs using Fréchet Inception Distance (FID). The findings highlight the potential of these AI models to generate culturally relevant and aesthetically appealing textile patterns, with a focus on both symmetry and creativity.

"By providing a new tool for creating customizable wax designs, this study has the potential to make an impact on the fashion industry," the abstract notes. "It also shows that the suggested approaches are promising to produce a variety of plausible and culturally appropriate designs. Our next step is to collaborate with African fashion designers and wax experts to validate the resulting designs."