Shyam Sharma Among Inaugural Class of SUNY AI for the Public Good Fellows

Shyam Sharma, a professor of writing and rhetoric in Stony Brook University's College of Arts and Sciences, was among 20 SUNY faculty and staff experts honored as part of the inaugural class of SUNY's AI for the Public Good Fellows.

In the next year, the honorees will work to help SUNY update the general education information literacy core competency to reflect emerging technologies. The AI for the Public Good Fellows will be a resource to SUNY's colleges and universities by providing targeted support for faculty and staff working to update courses and learning activities to incorporate AI literacy, including the effective and ethical use of AI and teaching students to critically evaluate AI-generated content.

SUNY updated its general education requirements for undergraduatesearlier this year to include the skills to ethically incorporate artificial intelligence into the existing information literacy core competency. This update, along with a new general education core competency in civil discourse, will be implemented across SUNY institutions by Fall 2026.

"As artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are further engrained in everything we do, SUNY is making sure every student has this essential core competency within our excellent academic curriculum," said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. "We are all bombarded with information from all directions, with varying degrees of authenticity, and SUNY will equip every student with the skills to recognize what is true, and how to ethically use AI in their studies and in the world."

"I had done a lot of things with AI, starting with exploring it and educating students how to use it and, just as importantly, how notto use it in the classroom," said Sharma. "I had also collaborated on a book project, published articles, written blogs and op-eds, and developed teaching materials. I had gone around the world doing workshops, keynotes, and discussions. Because of this experience, I thought I could contribute something to the SUNY system as we move deeper into the AI age. So, I applied for it and was subsequently selected."

The Fellowship is a one-year commitment. Winners are given a stipend and will be provided resources to travel across the state to different SUNY institutions and support faculty in implementing the new SUNY general education, specifically the information literacy requirement.

"I would like to bring to the AI fellowship program and, through it, to SUNY campuses including Stony Brook, a little more critical understanding of AI," said Sharma. "By that I mean we have to ask the hard questions. If we give up on asking the hard questions, it's like a farmer giving up on planting the seeds and growing the plants that will feed the community."

One of those hard questions is providing a fundamental understanding of what AI can - and can't- do for education.

"AI still has massive weaknesses, as well as an impact on the environment, on society, and especially on learning," he said. "To paraphrase a famous JFK quotation, 'ask not what AI can do for you, ask what you can do with, and especially without, AI.' That's the foundation of general education. My hope is that we can harness public good while mitigating adverse social impact, environmental impact, and especially impacts on civic education."

Sharma hopes to shine a light on the cross-section of his discipline and the very essence of education.

"Writing is a vehicle, a tool, an instrument for thinking," he said. "If you break down a writing course into its component literacy skills, you can see which of the many skills students want to learn and become capable of using throughout their lives, not only when they are using AI or a device that has AI in it, but also when they are talking, walking, working, or doing surgery."

In all of those situations, Sharma said, we rely on thinking, communication, and a whole host of other skills that writing helps to develop.

"My concern with AI is that if you take away the friction of the learning experience, if you take away the student's opportunity for cognitive, emotional and intellectual development, then AI becomes a real threat instead of a resource," he said. "I'm hoping that the SUNY AI fellowship and the effort we're making will help us to not go too far too fast in the wrong directions with AI."

"Through his appointment as an Inaugural AI for the Public Good Fellow, world-renowned scholar and award-winning professor Shyam Sharma has distinguished himself as a true leader in taking on one of the most important issues of our time," said Peter Khost, associate professor and chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. "In this role, Professor Sharma will address the impacts of artificial intelligence on undergraduate education, helping prepare students across SUNY institutions to engage with emerging technologies ethically and critically. This honor reflects Sharma's innovations in educational technology in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and Stony Brook University and scales the benefits of his expertise for system-wide application. He deserves our congratulations and gratitude."

SUNY is at the forefront of AI innovation, research, and responsibility. Empire AIis Governor Kathy Hochul's first-of-its-kind independent consortium to secure New York's place at the forefront of artificial intelligence research for the public good. Departments of AI and Society were established across eight SUNY campuses to develop departments, centers, and institutes of AI and Society to engage diverse disciplines and communities, broaden AI development to prepare students for the future.

"If we create an environment where students can use AI in a meaningful, productive way and not abuse or misuse it, I think that's the right thing to do," said Sharma. "I'm hoping that we faculty can ground ourselves in the fundamentals and foundations of general education, and to the foundation of disciplinary identity development, and use AI in effective, productive ways. I don't think AI is good or bad. It's how we can leverage AI to reinforce learning while helping students recognize and avoid the harms to learning when using it."

- Robert Emproto