UCLA Experiments with AI to Improve Humanities Education | | What is generative ai | Generative ai financial services mckinsey | Turtles AI

At UCLA, a comparative literature course will use AI-generated materials through the Kudu platform for the first time, streamlining teaching and improving interaction between students and faculty.

Key points:

• Teaching innovation: course materials created via AI on an advanced platform.
• Time optimization: professors and assistants will be able to devote more time to students.
• Consistency of material: standardized content derived exclusively from teacher-provided sources.
• Interactive support: students can interact with the system to deepen the concepts covered.

A winter course in comparative literature at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is preparing to transform the teaching approach through the use of materials created by an AI system. It is an exploration of literary heritage spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the 17th century. The project, developed in collaboration with the technology platform Kudu, marks a first for the university’s humanities department. Kudu was founded by Professor Alexander Kusenko, an expert in physics and astronomy, and is proposed as an advanced tool for the evolution of textbooks.

The innovation stems from the initiative of Professor Zrinka Stahuljak, who made available to the platform her lecture notes, multimedia presentations and videos already used in previous editions of the course. This process allows Kudu to create a coherent and detailed set of teaching materials, making them accessible to students in an optimized form. Although the time required to configure these materials varies from three to four months, direct faculty engagement is reduced to about 20 hours total, with compensation provided for the time spent.

Adopting this model allows the professor and her assistants to focus more on student support activities, improving interaction and the quality of teaching. In addition, the use of standardized resources ensures that all students receive the same high-quality content, eliminating discrepancies in the distribution of material. A distinguishing feature of the system is the ability for students to ask questions directly to the Kudu platform, which provides answers based solely on teacher-authorized materials, avoiding drawing on unchecked external sources.

This initiative is an interesting step forward in the integration of technology in the humanities, redefining the boundaries of traditional education with innovative and personalized solutions.