Helping students of all ages flourish in the era of artificial intelligence

A new cross-disciplinary research initiative at MIT aims to promote the understanding and use of AI across all segments of society. The effort, called Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education (RAISE), will develop new teaching approaches and tools to engage learners in settings from preK-12 to the workforce. "People are using AI every day in our workplaces and our private lives. Being digitally literate is no longer enough. People need to be AI-literate to understand the responsible use of AI and create things with it at individual, community, and societal levels," says RAISE Director Cynthia Breazeal, a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT. "But right now, if you want to learn about AI to make AI-powered applications, you pretty much need to have a college degree in computer science or related topic," Breazeal adds.