Leading the Revolution: The Crucial Role of HBCUs in Steering AI Leadership

Recently WCET had the opportunity to work with a coalition of organizations including the Online Learning Consortium, Complete College America, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education to examine the role that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can play in shaping artificial intelligence.

The resulting report, “Leading the Revolution: The Crucial Role of HBCUs in Steering AI Leadership,” argues that HBCUs must center artificial intelligence in their curriculum and research to play a critical role in shaping artificial intelligence and assuring that it benefits all of society.

As the report explains, “The significance of AI in modern society cannot be overstated. Its influence spans across all sectors, heralding a new age of innovation and problem-solving. However, this wave of change also brings challenges, particularly in ensuring equitable access and representation within AI fields.

HBCUs, with their history of academic excellence and commitment to inclusivity, are uniquely positioned to address these challenges, turning them into opportunities for their students and the broader community.”

But, in order to do this, HBCUs must adopt strategies around curriculum development, faculty training, infrastructure enhancement, and partnership building that center AI in their campuses and the greater community.

Focusing on HBCUs – Critical Timing in Inclusive AI Development

Why focus on HBCUs? HBCUs have a long legacy of excellence and inclusivity to bring to bear on our exploration and adoption of artificial intelligence. HBCUs excel at embedding cultural competence into their curriculum and preparing graduates for impacting their communities and our greater world. Additionally, HBCUs have long played an outsized role in producing STEM graduates. The McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility reported that while in 2018 Black students only earned seven percent of all STEM baccalaureate degrees, HBCUs produced almost a quarter of those graduates. The need to create racial parity in artificial intelligence is especially critical.

By 2045, the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility reports, generative AI has the potential to widen the Black/White household wealth gap by $43 billion annually – but, if implemented carefully, the technology may have beneficial impacts instead. Additionally, it is imperative that ethical AI systems be developed in consultation with as diverse a group of stakeholders as possible. As the White House AI Bill of Rights states, “Automated systems should be developed with consultation from diverse communities, stakeholders, and domain experts to identify concerns, risks, and potential impacts of the system.” HBCUs are uniquely positioned to play a role in the development of ethical AI systems.

There are a number of actions that HBCUs can take that the report lays out. These include:

• Prioritizing ethical AI education,
• Strengthening AI research partnerships,
• Centering the needs of the Black community in AI,
• Implementing AI governance at the institutional level,
• Building and enhancing AI operations at the institutional level,
• Advancing AI pedagogy,
• Implementing comprehensive AI integration across the curriculum,
• Promoting cross-disciplinary AI literacies,
• Leading in AI curriculum innovation,
• Developing strategic industry partnerships,
• Promoting experiential learning for an AI-driven job market,
• Supporting AI research and innovation.

HBCUs should also prioritize strategic activities that will assist them in becoming leaders in the advancing AI revolution. These strategic activities include:

• Curriculum development and approval, Year 1, high priority
• Faculty hiring and training, Years 1-2, high priority
• Resource allocation and infrastructure setup, Years 1-3, medium priority
• Funding and grant applications, ongoing, high-priority
• Industry partnerships, Years 2-4, medium priority
• Community outreach and education, Years 2-5, low priority
• Global engagements and conferences, Years 5-10, low priority

It is imperative that HBCUs play a critical role in the development, evolution, and implementation of AI, especially generative AI tools. Kate Crawford writes in Atlas of AI, “Artificial intelligence is not an objective, universal, or neutral computational technique that makes determinations without human direction. Its systems are embedded in social, political, cultural, and economic worlds, shaped by humans, institutions, and imperatives that determine what they do and how they do it.”

With their history of STEM training and strength in contextualizing academic instruction, HBCUs are uniquely situated in shaping the AI landscape for the better.  As Leading the Revolution concludes, “In a world where AI will undoubtedly play a pivotal role, the question should not only be how to adapt to this technological revolution but who gets to lead it. HBCUs have a unique opportunity to ensure that the narrative surrounding AI is diverse, equitable, and inclusive as the technology itself promises to be.”

Post authored by Van Davis, WCET