ACU conducts AI research: Exploring benefits, challenges with support from Google grant

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an increasingly common term in modern society, it’s crucial to understand not only how it works but its potential detrimental effects. With the recent announcement by the Trump administration that Abilene will be a key site for artificial intelligence research, one local university is already taking the lead in exploring this technology.

That’s the goal of a series of studies conducted by Abilene Christian University experts. This research aims to identify the challenges of using specific AI programs, like ChatGPT, among students and how these tools impact academic performance and critical thinking skills. Dr. James Prather, an associate professor of computer science at ACU., explained how their findings have prompted them to take further steps in educating students on responsible AI use.

“We’re looking for ways to mitigate overreliance by training students how to use these tools well, training them on the difficulties and problems with these tools: bias, hallucination, those kinds of things,” Prather shared. “Then, seeing if that active training scaffolds them well enough to mitigate some of these issues.”

Since Abilene will play a significant role in the future of artificial intelligence research, Prather shared that the university aims to explore the best ways to help students adapt to AI use in a beneficial manner. The initial goals were to identify challenges associated with using AI applications for schoolwork and any potential negative effects on students’ learning.

Now, Prather has shared how their approach to embracing AI in the classroom has helped them expand their research, thanks to a grant from Google:

“We wrote a proposal about using AI to help provide more access to tutoring and teaching resources and more scaffolding to help students learn programming that could broaden participation. Google really liked that and decided to fund it, and we’re really grateful for their support.”

For ACU’s efforts to explore the potential benefits of students using A.I., Google awarded the university a $100,000 grant to support their research.