Purdue Trustees Approve ‘AI Working Competency’ Graduation Requirement

Purdue University recently unveiled a broad strategy of AI@Purdue across five functional areas: Learning with AI, Learning about AI, Research AI, Using AI and Partnering in AI.

A key element of the comprehensive plan came as the Board of Trustees approved a first-of-its-kind plan in the country to introduce an “AI working competency” graduation requirement for all undergraduate students on main campus (Indianapolis and West Lafayette).

“The reach and pace of AI’s impact to society, including many dimensions of higher education, means that we at Purdue must lean in and lean forward and do so across different functions at the university,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “AI@Purdue strategic actions are part of the Purdue Computes strategic initiative, and will continue to be refreshed to advance the missions and impact of our university.”

Learning About AI

Now and in future, Purdue students will need to possess the requisite critical thinking skills to understand, evaluate and effectively use AI technologies and to keep pace with their future changes — all as informed by evolving workforce and employer needs. To this end, the trustees have delegated authority to the provost, working with deans of all academic colleges, to develop and to review and update continuously, discipline-specific criteria and proficiency standards for a new campuswide “artificial intelligence working competency” graduation requirement for all Purdue main campus students, starting with new beginners in fall 2026. Some of the underlying educational resources and innovations will be made available as soon as next semester for currently enrolled students, too.  

Built on recently launched AI majors, minors and certificates across colleges, and following the establishment of a working group last summer, with additional careful deliberation and advice from the University Senate through its Undergraduate Curriculum Council, the goal of this requirement will be to ensure that, from exposure and awareness to skill-building and problem-solving mastery, Purdue students possess job-ready skills and critical thinking competencies to:

• Understand and use the latest AI tools effectively in their chosen field(s), including identifying the key capabilities, strengths and limits of AI technologies, as well as ways that AI can transform existing methods, processes and tools
• Recognize and communicate clearly about AI use, decisions and limitations, including developing and defending decisions informed by AI-driven insights, as well as recognizing the presence, influence and consequences of AI in decision-making
• Adapt to and work with future AI developments effectively and continually

“We’re enormously eager to work with faculty colleagues across the university to breathe life into this critical new requirement,” Purdue Provost Patrick Wolfe said. “At the same time, it’s absolutely imperative that a requirement like this is well informed by continual input from industry partners and employers more broadly. For this reason, I’ve also asked that each of our academic colleges establishes a standing industry advisory board focusing on employers’ AI competency needs and that these boards are used to help ensure a continual, annual refresh of our AI curriculum and requirements to ensure that we keep our discipline-specific criteria continually current.”

Learning With AI

Based on input from and consultation with many, a guidance on the use of generative AI in teaching and learning was published in January 2024. The industry has moved at a rapid pace since then. The Office of the Provost and the University Senate have been partnering to update that guidance and expect to issue the update toward the end of the current academic year.

Research AI

AI@Purdue will advance research, using AI to accelerate innovation, including the Purdue Institute for Physical AI (IPAI) at the interface where the bytes of AI meet the atoms of what we grow, what we make and what we move:

• Agriculture and Food Systems: Teams are advancing precision agriculture to create “biological manufacturing” for food systems in activities coordinated through the Institute for Digital and Advanced Agricultural Systems (IDAAS) and the Open Ag Technology and Systems Center (OATS)
• Manufacturing: Researchers are working in laboratories like Birck Nanotechnology Center and initiatives such as IN-MaC and the William D. and Sherry L. Young Institute for the Advanced Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals
• Transportation and Logistics: Researchers are driving innovation in autonomous personnel and commercial transport and road safety through the Transportation and Autonomous Systems Institute (TASI); developing digital twins, or replicas, of real-world entities based on AI; and pioneering AI in aviation and cargo drones through the center on AI for Digital, Autonomous and Augmented Aviation, or AIDA³
• Defense: Researchers are partnering with national security and defense agencies and industries, leveraging AI tools to advance key areas such as hypersonics, energetic materials, cybersecurity, microelectronics and semiconductors
• Health: Expanding on university’s One Health initiative, research is focused on real-time digital twin technology for personalized nutrition and interdisciplinary solutions through the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and the Institute for Drug Discovery

Using AI

Actions designed to equip faculty and staff with AI resources for improving efficiency and productivity include the following examples and more:

• Adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Early-user phase by researchers completed for Gautschi supercomputer
• Rollout of GenAI Studio, a service that makes open-source models like large language models accessible to researchers
• Revamped university AI website
• Implementation of bots to automate procurement services
• Bolstering cybersecurity through a partnership with Rapid7, helping identify, prioritize and remediate security vulnerabilities quickly and effectively

AI tools are also being implemented to place Purdue at the leading edge of academic advising (Listening Companions, Chatbots and Major Change AI Support).

Partnering in AI

The heightened AI@Purdue focus in the classroom combines with greater emphasis on public-private partnerships, harnessing the transformative impact in education and research:

• Purdue and Google announced plans to strengthen their educational and research ties in preparing the next generation of AI leaders while also advancing the technology
• A high-level collaboration with Apple led to the launch of the first-of-its-kind Spatial Computing Hub on Purdue’s campus
• A joint venture between university’s Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement and SCALE K-12 programs and high-performing computer platform Arm was signed to launch Arm EducateAI Coalition, which will prepare the nation’s youth for tech careers

AI@Purdue landing page

Purdue Brand Studio, the university’s central marketing and communications unit, has partnered with major campus units to create a comprehensive AI web experience that features:

• Options to learn, research and partner with AI
• IT governance and data security
• AI facilities and labs, toolkits, and guidance
• An AI playbook for Gen Z and Gen Alpha students
• Latest Purdue news and stories focused on AI