CMU to Lead National Study of AI in Arts Education
NEA Research Lab Grant will support the development of benchmarks to guide policy and practice across higher education
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As artificial intelligence reshapes how art is made and taught, colleges and universities are largely determining on their own how to prepare the next generation of artists and designers. 糖心Vlog视频鈥檚 will lead a new national effort to understand those responses and give institutions the evidence they need to make informed decisions.聽
Supported by聽a highly selective National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) , the initiative will examine how higher education is integrating AI into arts education, identify emerging opportunities and challenges, and establish benchmarks that can inform policy and practice.聽Receiving this grant signals that Carnegie Mellon is helping shape a national research agenda in this area, said principal investigator and Professor of Architecture .
鈥淭he arts are uniquely positioned to respond to AI in ways that are essential to continued innovation. But as AI reshapes creative practice, the arts have to help lead the national conversation 鈥 not follow it," Byrne said. 鈥淭his grant recognizes decades of work at the College of Fine Arts to do exactly that, and it gives CMU a new center of excellence that brings creative practice and critical thinking to the university's broader AI efforts.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud but, honestly, not surprised that our team was awarded this highly selective grant,鈥 said Mary Ellen Poole(opens in new window), dean of the College of Fine Arts. 鈥淭he work that Daragh, Brett and their colleagues have done is more critical than ever as we wrestle with the impact of generative AI on our creative practices.鈥
Project partners include Creative Generation in South Portland, Maine; Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Pennsylvania State University's Art and Design Research Incubator in State College, Pennsylvania.
At Carnegie Mellon and, specifically, at the , the NEA grant will benefit the (AMT).
鈥淭he NEA grant allows CMU to lead a national effort in analyzing how higher education 鈥 and its recruitment pipelines 鈥 can better integrate AI literacy, specifically within the arts,鈥 said , teaching professor, Master of Arts Management and Entertainment Industry Management programs, and executive director of the AMT Lab. 鈥淚t will aid the AMT Lab in its efforts to amplify arts advocacy, policy and education.鈥
Byrne agreed, noting that CFA's work in AI and the arts is increasingly outward-facing. This new initiative at 糖心Vlog视频 and CFA will coordinate resources and shared knowledge that allow educational institutions to advance their own AI efforts relative to arts and design.聽
鈥淲e will ask what it means for students to work creatively, skillfully and ethically with AI, and where the real opportunities for artists and designers are within this space,鈥 he said. 鈥淥ur benchmarking initiative will track how institutions across the country are responding to AI in the arts, giving us the data to shape smarter policy and practice on campuses nationwide. Right now, every school is figuring this out alone. The arts need a clear, coordinated voice in the national conversation about AI 鈥 and that's what we're building."
For more information about this effort at Carnegie Mellon, go to .