Purdue chooses Google to guide its graduation requirements for artificial intelligence

Purdue University announced this month that it has chosen Google as the official software to implement its first-in-the-nation graduation requirements for artificial intelligence competency.

Indiana’s largest public university said the tech giant’s services would help “advance AI-enabled education, accelerate AI innovation and expand AI workforce development” for more than 44,000 undergraduates.

“This alliance offers comprehensive access and opportunities to the Purdue community that are rarely extended to academic institutions and places us in a very select category among top-tier research universities in the age of AI,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said in a statement.

Starting with this fall’s entering freshmen, the school’s “AI@Purdue” strategy will mandate an “AI working competency” for graduates of its West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses.

A five-year agreement will create a “Google AI Hub space” at Purdue. It will also grant faculty, students and researchers full access to Google Cloud’s AI tools and software to help generate hypotheses and research proposals.

“This collaboration helps ensure researchers, students and educators are using the most advanced AI, while preparing the next generation to lead an AI-driven workforce,” Karen Dahut, CEO of Google Public Sector, said in a statement.

The collaboration builds on a partnership that Purdue and Google announced at an AI summit in November.

Purdue’s Board of Trustees approved a plan last month that includes five requirements: Learning with AI, Learning about AI, Researching AI, Using AI and Partnering in AI.

The university insisted this month that Google’s collaboration on the requirements would help ensure “job-ready skills and critical thinking competencies” for students adapting to a fast-changing workforce.

“Our students will learn from and work with technologies that represent the forefront of AI development, and they’ll do so within an educational framework that emphasizes both innovation and responsible use,” said Dimitrios Peroulis, Purdue’s senior vice president for partnerships and online.

It remains unclear precisely what courses and materials will be included in the requirements.

Purdue declined to make any of its professors available for interviews.

A Google Public Sector spokesperson told The Washington Times on Wednesday that the company would “provide guidance as a leading technology provider,” leaving Purdue to manage “the requirements and curriculum itself.”

“Google Public Sector AI experts will primarily advise Purdue innovation leaders and faculty on technology skills used in various industries and sectors,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The spokesperson added that “the collaboration is already underway.”

Many higher education insiders have praised Purdue for setting an example for other universities to follow.

“Purdue isn’t chasing a fad,” said Martin Mehl, a researcher and scholar-in-residence at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. “If you aren’t fluent in the language of AI, you’re functionally illiterate in the 21st-century marketplace.”

Mr. Mehl predicted in an email that Big Ten colleges, Ivy League universities, and other elite campuses would all adopt AI graduation requirements within the next two years.

Others have questioned whether Purdue’s requirements will convey real skills or become another box to check off for graduation. They flagged a growing amount of ’AI slop’ and unethical uses emerging online.

“Concerns are well-placed,” said Shlomo Argamon, Touro University’s associate provost for artificial intelligence. “We must teach students to see AI as augmenting human capabilities, not replacing them.”

Purdue’s unique requirements come as dozens of universities have launched AI courses and degrees in recent years. Meanwhile, student use of the technology has become widespread for studying and test preparation.

The Trump administration and lawmakers in California, home to the nation’s most lucrative tech companies, have endorsed embedding AI literacy requirements at every level of education. Dozens of states have taken early steps to do so.

“Larger institutions may find it harder to move quickly,” said Cas Maxwell, the cofounder of AI Owl, an education and workforce training company that has partnered with Ohio state officials to develop credentials. “But students are using AI, whether universities acknowledge it or not.”

Rebecca Mannis, a developmental psychologist who founded Ivy Prep to tutor children and adults with learning disabilities, noted that schools have started training children as young as 11 to use AI.

“As a result, I expect that even in two years, the focus of AI competence in colleges will be different because of these students having those experiences that they bring to the equation as they enter the university,” Ms. Mannis said.