Dear Students, Parents, Alumni, Friends, and Visitors,
It’s rare to go a full day in the School of Public and International Affairs without talking about AI. It’s fitting to discuss it here since the school is dedicating substantial intellectual energy on “getting AI right” for our students, our community partners, and our fields of research.
A magazine article declared recently, “AI Is Destroying the University and Learning Itself.” By and large, I don’t agree with this point of view. Here’s why.
In our fields – politics, public policy, public administration, international affairs – many people and organizations are counting on us – literally counting on SPIA – to solve real problems, using real expertise. Like all the tools we use at SPIA, we are teaching strategies and skills to get the most out of AI. But regardless of how we use it, AI is not substituting for judgement and wisdom – qualities AI can’t deliver – not yet, anyway.
Generative AI produces content based on probability and learned patterns. It’s woven into our professional and private lives. Applied constructively, it’s powerful and helpful; applied irresponsibly, it short-circuits critical thinking and generates slop. As teachers, we must impart AI skills the right way, for the right reasons.
Same for agentic AI, which performs tasks autonomously, without human instruction. It’s a remarkable tool for problem-solving and organizational production – but it can also go rogue. AI agents can work around the clock, which is exciting, but people who depend on fair, competent decisions made in the public interest still need ethical, expertly trained, civically-minded people in charge.
In 2026, SPIA will continue to intentionally incorporate AI tools into our classes and degree programs, our research, our field work, and our engagement with community partners. The objectives? To ensure students are nimble across multiple AI platforms – understanding which tools are best suited to different problems and tasks. Graduates will also be equipped to simulate complex problem-solving with AI – testing ideas and plans before deploying them in the real world. And they will be able to compare real world experiences in internships, capstones, and practicums against the engineered problem settings we create in class and in the computer lab. Ultimately, if we are successful, our teaching, research, and outreach will help our students, alumni, and faculty and staff diagnose problems more quickly, develop better solutions, and reach more people with those solutions.
The greatest challenge isn’t being replaced by robots. The greatest challenge is having positive impacts in the myriad areas of public life where SPIA and its scholars, alumni, and students have long played a role. AI can help with this, and it will.
“AI” is literally two letters in SPIA’s four-letter name. We are already pretty good at using it to good ends. Before long, the benefits of a SPIA-trained, AI-enabled workforce will be tangible and sought-after from the classroom to the courthouse to the capital.
Cordially,
Matthew R. Auer
Dean and Arch Professor of Public and International Affairs
