Imagine a future where AI is advising you through class registration, helping you switch majors or even offering career advice. That's the type of future ASU President Michael Crow is working toward by intending to integrate AI into academic advising.
"We're working on some (intelligent agents) now, where all of the basic questions that you'll ask for academic advising will be (answered by AI)," Crow said in a meeting with The State Press on Oct. 25. "If you took all the catalogs, all of the course descriptions, all of the resumes of all of the faculty, you're building an AI system not built on the broader web. You're building the web for a specific purpose."
Crow said that considering tens of thousands of students and staff use AI systems, he wants to integrate AI tools into students' academic lives to provide personalized support.
"Our hope is that we will end up with an... agent-based AI assistant for everyone at some point, that's what we're working for," Crow in a meeting with The State Press on March 4.
In January 2024, ASU announced a partnership with the company that developed ChatGPT— OpenAI. Now, ASU is working with a new AI partner, FYI.ai.
READ MORE: ASU announces first partnership between OpenAI and a university
"We're working with this particular company, which is called FYI.ai and it was invented and discovered and developed by Will.i.am, the creative genius that he is," Crow said in a meeting with The State Press on March 4.
Though AI is a tool frequented by many students to assist with simple questions, some students do not agree that an AI bot can replicate a human's personalized assistance.
Jacob Weinstock, a freshman studying mechanical engineering, has reservations about whether AI can take up the mantle of a human advisor because of its lack of humanity.
"When you look at a person, there's just something there that AI just can't do. It's all computer learning," Weinstock said. "It's learning what to say based on what you said. It doesn't actually take what you're saying and put it through its own mind, because it doesn't have one."
Weinstock further emphasized the element of human connection in advising, something he believes students look for when seeking guidance.
"That's kind of a thing that people who go to academic advising need. They need to be able to feel like they're being cared about. And with AI, it's just not possible. It can mimic it, but it can't make it be true," Weinstock said.
Freshman Alyssa Kurzendoerfer, who studies classical civilization, shared that she agrees that AI could not replace the human aspect of advising. She has negative connotations associated with it, particularly a lack of human interaction and personalized connection.
"It might be detrimental for me specifically because I do a lot better with one-on-one interpersonal communication. I like being able to talk things out with somebody and get their feedback and not just what makes the most logical, sequential sense," Kurzendoerfer said. "I feel like I wouldn't get that same level of communication speaking with an AI."
In a meeting on March 4 with The State Press, Crow said that incorporating AI into advising does not mean replacing advisers but rather enhancing their ability to assist students, especially considering ASU's growing student population.
"We don't see any AI tools as delimiting positions. We see them as enhancing positions. So let's say you're an academic adviser and you're at ASU, and you have 600 advisees— well, that's almost impossible. We need to give you every tool imaginable so that your advisees can be able to gain your curriculum (and) do anything," Crow said.
On the other hand, there are also students who believe that implementing AI into advising could have its pros.
Sreeja Reddy Madderla, a graduate student studying information technology, shares that she does not think AI is a risk for advisers or their jobs, but a supplement that could provide quick service.
"Sometimes, when I feel like asking my adviser about something simple, like if I go somewhere wrong, I don't want to set up a meeting. It takes a long time to set up a meeting and then have them on Zoom call or in person… A chatbot would be really useful," Madderla said.
Kurzendoerfer said she has relied on her adviser's help with her schedule. She recalled that during winter break, a substitute adviser, lacking context on her situation, denied her request for online classes — something her adviser had already approved. She fears AI would have the same issue with communication.
"I feel, especially with something like AI, there's not a whole lot of room to maneuver that kind of situation," Kurzendoerfer said.
While students like Madderla see the potential of AI being assimilated into advising, she thinks it should come with its limits and boundaries.
"Relying 100% on AI bots is not a good option any day, even when you're studying," Madderla said. "But you have to know the boundary or the line where you have the stuff that you want to ask AI and the stuff that you have to ask a physical adviser, a human adviser."
As ASU continues to look toward a future where AI plays a role in academic advising, students express optimism and hesitation. Crow, however, is confident in the direction it's headed.
"We think that every counselor, every adviser, every student, everyone should have these, and that's where we're headed," Crow said. "They should be ubiquitous."
Edited by Sophia Ramirez, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at mmart533@asu.edu.
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MJ is a freshman studying computer science and journalism and mass communication. This is her first semester with The State Press. She has also worked on her high school newspaper.
