Christian university aims to produce 'irreplaceable' graduates as AI reshapes higher education

Colleges and universities across the country are scrambling to respond to the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. One Christian university is looking to embrace the technology and graduate students who are "irreplaceable." Cornerstone University wants to show other higher education institutions that the goal shouldn't be keeping AI out of the classroom, but rather help students learn to use it wisely.

"We want to lead," Cornerstone University President Gerson Moreno-Riaño told Fox News Digital. "We want to be ahead of other institutions, but we need the insight of experts in the marketplace right now that can give us guidance, direction and insight to do this and to do it well."

Cornerstone University, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently announced the President’s Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board. The board is made up of experts in several fields, including philosophy, engineering, enterprise AI, theology and higher education. The members are tasked with advising Cornerstone on AI curriculum, ethics and long-term strategy.

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Moreno-Riaño said the board was formed to ensure that Cornerstone's curriculum keeps pace with the rapidly evolving AI landscape, help faculty adapt to the technology and ensure the university's approach remains grounded in its Christian values.

Top universities across the country are taking different approaches to AI as the technology becomes more widely available. However, many do not have school-wide policies and instead ask faculty to use their discretion in their classrooms.

Harvard University does not have a university-wide policy regarding AI, but instead requires instructors to inform students of their policies. The university has three examples of policies that faculty can use, but it also allows them to make their own guidance. One policy prohibits the use of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, in all stages of work, while another encourages students to "explore" the limits of the tech.

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Vanderbilt University also encourages faculty to establish their own generative AI use policies for their courses, as long as they align with the school's Honor Code. While the university does not have a blanket policy on generative AI, it holds faculty members responsible for clearly articulating their expectations to their students.

Moreno-Riaño said that kind of fragmented approach is exactly what Cornerstone is hoping to avoid.

"I've spoken to many college presidents and experts and have a sense that many universities right now don't know what to do with artificial intelligence," he said. "They lack a coherent strategy and focus, and what happens is that both the students suffer, and the faculty and the staff suffer. There's no guidance and direction."

"So, we want to ensure that we prepare and develop our faculty well, our staff well too, to how do we engage this in a way that continues to form our students, not just inform them. And prepare them with wisdom, not just information," he added.

The Cornerstone president also said that higher education institutions are too often focused on the potential risks of students using AI to cheat, rather than trying to teach them how to use it responsibly. Moreno-Riaño suggested that many higher education professionals who ban AI because of potential cheating are not approaching the technology in the right way. He acknowledged the negatives of AI, but said that those who are only focused on the bad, have failed to see how it can be used for good.

"Our job in academia is to prepare our faculty and ultimately our students to be able to use it with discernment and for institutions to use it to extend the reach of what they're accomplishing and quite frankly, lower the costs of what it takes to deliver an education," he said.

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As AI becomes more capable and accessible, the conversation surrounding its relationship with higher education has expanded beyond the classroom. Students and parents are increasingly questioning which degrees and career paths will be valuable as AI reshapes the modern workforce. However, Moreno-Riaño believes they're asking the wrong question, saying that AI will change nearly every profession.

"I don't think there's a safe career or a safe diploma, a safe major. I think every field will be significantly transformed by this. But I think the question we should be asking is that we should think about producing graduates that can't be replaced," Moreno-Riaño told Fox News Digital.

For the Cornerstone president, it comes down to producing graduates who are "irreplaceable" in their fields. He argued that this does not necessarily mean teaching them to code or to focus on career paths that are AI-driven or resistant; rather, it requires universities to nourish the aspects of their students' humanity that cannot be replicated.

"I think careers are going to be transformed and changed. There's no doubt about it," he said. "But it's a human capability for wisdom and discernment that can't be replaced."

Moreno-Riaño said that students do not become wiser just by memorizing the correct answer to a question, arguing that the process played an important role in their development. He recalled a high school math teacher who insisted that students show every part of their work rather than simply writing the answer.

"The dilemma with AI is it gives you the right answer, but robs you from the struggle," he said.

Moreno-Riaño argued that the struggle to solve problems, work through mistakes and develop judgment, is ultimately what produces "irreplaceable" graduates. He added that universities should use AI to enhance students' learning experiences with the aim of helping them develop wisdom, something he thinks will be key as people question the value of a college degree in the AI age.

"Faculty need to be sources of wisdom for our students," he said.

What makes Cornerstone's approach unique, according to Moreno-Riaño, is the university's efforts to adapt to cutting-edge technology while also staying true to its Christian values.

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"I think Christianity has so much to offer here to say, we understand what the person is, we're image bearers of God, this means something," he told Fox News Digital. He added that America's founders understood this principle, which he says still sits "at the core of Christianity and of Christian higher ed."

Ultimately, Moreno-Riaño believes universities should not resist AI and instead must find ways to ensure that AI remains a tool that serves people rather than replacing them.

"It's here to stay," he said. "Now we have to learn how to use it and ensure that it serves our good purposes, not that we serve its purposes."