At Lake Forest College, students can explore artificial intelligence (AI) through a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary minor. With two distinct tracks—AI Studies and AI Governance—this program is designed to help you think critically, act ethically, and lead confidently in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
Students explore how artificial intelligence is shaping the human experience through literature, ethics, history, and the arts. This humanities-driven track invites you to ask big questions about what it means to be human in the age of AI, and offers practical skills for the 21st-century workplace.
Students learn the processes, standards, and guardrails essential for ensuring that AI implementations are ethical, safe, and compliant. Through this minor, graduates become proficient in designing governance plans that cover the entire AI lifecycle, from proper launch and ongoing monitoring to issue resolution and sunsetting.
Lake Forest College is one of the first small liberal arts colleges to offer a comprehensive and interdisciplinary AI credential that is firmly rooted in the liberal arts tradition.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept—it’s a present reality shaping every industry and aspect of life. AI has become embedded in a range of industries, including:
Understanding how AI works and how to govern it ethically is essential to our future. Combine an AI minor with a variety of majors to prepare for the changing landscape of future careers.
At Lake Forest College, students explore artificial intelligence through a first-of-its kind interdisciplinary minor that centers two important perspectives: AI Studies and AI Governance.
With AI Studies, we assess AI through a societal lens using humanistic practices. There, we ask key questions about the history and impact of AI on human life and the world we live in.
With AI Governance, we assess AI through business standards and safety lenses. There, we ask key questions about the embedded risks using governmental, corporate, and professional standards in the field.
Alongside the AI minor, our robust data science and computer science programs provide opportunities for students to learn how to build AI systems—complementing the minor's focus on assessment and critical engagement.
The AI minor at Lake Forest College offers students a multitude of ways to engage with AI in a hands-on setting.
Students taking on a minor in AI in either track will have the opportunity to blend a variety of disciplines in their studies. This liberal arts approach gives students an edge when it comes to applying their AI-based skills and knowledge beyond the classroom.
Techno-sociologist Zeynep Tufekci visited the College for a discussion with Krebs Center Executive Director Davis Schneiderman about a world rapidly adjusting to everything from ChatGPT to big data to the power of the algorithm—and how the humanities might be the key to the future.
In AI Studies, students assess AI through a humanistic lens, asking critical questions about its history, ethics, and cultural impacts.
In AI Governance, students assess AI through a business standards and safety lens. We ask key questions about the embedded risks of these technologies using governmental, corporate, and professional standards from the field.
The AI Studies track is deeply interdisciplinary, blending ethics, history, philosophy, literature, and media studies to examine how AI shapes and is shaped by society. Students will take ethics courses, choose from humanities electives focused on AI, and participate in an AI-focused internship. They will also serve as Krebs Center for the Humanities Scholars.
The AI Studies track offers students hands-on learning opportunities through internships in AI-related fields, providing valuable practical experience. Additionally, the Krebs Humanities Scholar Experience allows students to engage in scholarly work under faculty supervision, focusing on AI-related projects. Furthermore, partnerships with Chicago-based organizations enable students to gain real-world experience and contribute to AI applications and policy discussions, enhancing their understanding and preparedness for future careers in AI.
The AI Governance track focuses on central ethical concerns and technical difficulties related to AI deployment. They must take an ethics class, they must take a humanities class of their choice focused on AI and society, and they must take either a technical AI-related class OR another humanities class. This is in addition to statistics, which is needed as a skill to help with assessment. In the capstone course, AI Governance, students will learn how to use assessment frameworks to develop oversight mechanisms, informed by what they’ve learned in previous classes. We’ll look at real-world scenarios and study AI governance frameworks arising from many entities, like the AI Safety Institution, Microsoft, and the IEEE.
Within the AI Governance track, students will engage in real-world and hypothetical case studies, allowing them to analyze and apply AI governance principles across various sectors such as healthcare, finance, and autonomous systems. They will learn to review, assess, and draft governance frameworks for AI and data management systems, providing practical experience in ethical considerations and regulatory compliance.
