Proposal abstract :
The project will assemble a small group of Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty to train on the use of AI, its implications, and its impact on teaching and learning. Biweekly workshops will be held in the fall term, facilitated by computer science faculty, and workshops will continue in the spring term with guest speakers from a variety of Vanderbilt disciplines who will discuss topics such as AI tools in research and the classroom; algorithmic bias, fairness, and justice; and AI’s effect on the future of higher education. The core group of VDS faculty will take the knowledge they’ve learned and share best practices in AI teaching and learning with their colleagues across theological schools through a symposium, conference presentations, and the F[AI]thfully Cocreating workgroup sponsored by the Association of Theological Schools, Atla, and the In Trust Center for Theological Schools (with a future goal of developing a degree program in AI Ethics).

Learning Abstract :
We propose to design a program to train the faculty of the Vanderbilt Divinity School (VDS) on
matters related to artificial intelligence (AI) and how to use it. The earliest AI models were fraught
with cases of classism, racism, misogyny, and homophobia based on the historical and often
slanted information the models were supplied.1 A 2019 study showed that an algorithm widely
used in healthcare favored white patients over black patients; the Correctional Offender
Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) system utilized an algorithm that wrongly
predicted twice as many black offenders as potential recidivists than white offenders; and in 2015,
Amazon's hiring algorithm was found to favor men over women.2