Integrating Artificial Intelligence Tools into Education and the Workforce

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By April Heyward
January 10, 2025

John McCarthy (Dartmouth College), Marvin Minsky (Harvard University), Nathaniel Rochester (IBM Corporation) and Claude Shannon’s (Bell Telephone Laboratories) research and establishment of Artificial Intelligence as a discipline sixty-nine years ago ignited the foundation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In August 1955, they submitted a proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation which was funded to investigate “how to make machines use a language; form abstractions and concepts; solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans; and improve themselves.” The evolution of Artificial Intelligence over the last sixty-nine years has far exceed what McCarthy, Minsky, Rochester and Shannon aimed to achieve. AI has transformed every sector of society and has facilitated new ways of thinking, working and living. The 4IR emerged around fourteen years ago and focused on the connectivity of diverging technologies (e.g., AI, Internet of Things, Robotics) to create intelligent/smart systems, increase efficiency, automate processes and operations, etc. One of the consequences of the 4IR is the impact on jobs and the necessity for new skills in the workforce. 4IR is still ongoing but simultaneously the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) emerged within the last four years. 4IR focuses on connectivity but the 5IR focuses on human-AI collaboration and human-machine collaboration. The collaboration lends itself to Augmented Intelligence. See Figure 2 for Augmented Intelligence depicting collaboration between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. The initial focus of 5IR is to bring the human back into focus and to collaborate with AI and machines. Heyward’s primary aim is to underscore the importance of integrating AI tools into education and the workforce. The secondary aim is to underscore considerations of the use and integration of AI tools.

Figure 2 – Augmented Intelligence Schematic Image

The emergence and availability of Large Language Models (LLMs) has sparked a new interest in AI, but it has also brought forth a sense of urgency due to its capabilities. In “The Evolution of AI: Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Health Informatics”, Heyward described LLMs as a type of Generative AI which is a subset of Machine Learning. Examples of LLMs include, but not limited to, OpenAI ChatGPT, Meta Llama, Claude, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. LLMs can perform many tasks such as sentence completion, text and image classification, analysis, generate images and question answering. OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot does not require computational skills or a computer science background which contributes to the increased interest in AI. The accessibility and capabilities of these types of LLMs and the availability of generative information also contributes to the increased interest in AI. The continual evolution of AI has advanced the information society. Employing LLMs and other areas of AI raises new questions and considerations when integrating AI tools into education and the workforce. What is the responsible use of AI (e.g., responsible AI)? What are the security considerations when using and integrating AI? Ethical considerations? Privacy considerations?

The rapid evolution of AI has forced a paradigm shift. This new era requires knowledge of AI tools. It is no longer enough to be an expert in one’s academic discipline and professional practice. This new era requires a balance between being the expert in one’s academic discipline or professional practice and being educated in how to employ and integrate AI tools into the academic discipline or professional practice. There are many perceptions of AI from perceiving AI as a replacement of humans in operations and processes, a learning tool and resource, an assistant and to be a proxy. AI requires new skills, creates new jobs, and is redefining existing jobs and professions. There is a newer trend that knowledge of and experience with AI tools such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini are required and integrated into job descriptions and interviews. How can education and the current and future workforce be reimagined with the integration of AI tools? First, view AI as a collaborator and partner which will require a paradigm shift in thinking and operating. Second, integrate artificial intelligence into education standards at the primary and secondary education levels. Integrate artificial intelligence into the curriculum at the higher education level. The future workforce will be required to have knowledge and experience with AI tools. 

Third, allocate financial and technological resources to support artificial intelligence integration into primary, secondary, and higher education levels. Fourth, educate and train teachers and educators on the use of AI tools. This should include providing methods and examples on how to reimagine teaching with AI tools, integrate AI tools into curriculum and assessment development and providing hands on activities for students to work with AI tools. Fifth, the current workforce, as applicable, should reskill, pursue microcredentials and other professional development opportunities. AI can be a resource and a collaborator across disciplines and professions. Learning how to work with AI tools can lead to building AI models, LLMs, chatbots, etc. This will lead to future innovation and technological and societal advancement. For instance, in healthcare a group of researchers built and employed an LLM to screen and match patients to clinical trials. Patient recruitment and screening time was reduced by almost fifty percent. McCarthy and colleagues’ foundational research continues to spur the AI evolution.

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Author: April Heyward is an Assistant Professor and Director of Artificial Intelligence Integration and Creative Learning at the Medical University of South Carolina. She is an ASPA SSTIG Board Member and Digital Twins for Health Consortium Member. Heyward can be reached at [email protected]. All views and opinions are her own and does not reflect the views and opinions of her affiliations. 

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