Acting on AI at AUP: Building a shared response to generative AI at a smaller liberal arts institution

For developing campus-wide guidance and support in response to generative AI, smaller liberal arts institutions are challenging environments, but they also have certain advantages. This presentation will describe how the American University of Paris has been developing its AI@AUP initiative, drawing on strengths that include its small size, the cross-functional expertise of staff, and faculty experience with bringing an interdisciplinary lens to complex questions. Launched in Spring 2024, we began by securing clear support from the President and Provost to devote time to the initiative. Our approach is anchored in convenings and communication with broad stakeholder groups across the entire campus, beginning with surveys of students, faculty and staff and a combined faculty-staff convening. We will share important features in the design of our initiative, lessons learned from our initial surveys and convenings (including how to bring faculty disciplinary expertise to bear on the topic of AI), and a list of resources we found particularly valuable for our initiative.