Loyola Expands AI Education with New Minors, Labs and Ethical Focus

Since the inclusion of AI in then Provost Margaret Callahan’s 2023 academic integrity statement, usage at Loyola has increased with the addition of two minors to the business school in fall 2025, individual courses on the subject, the creation of the Loyola AI Society (LAIS) and an AI lab.

Beyond these academic changes, Loyola has also introduced the use of Microsoft Copilot, an AI powered assistant, for student use. The tool will serve to help users summarize and refine content as well as analyze data, according to the Information Technology Services (ITS) website. ITS will also host informational webinars on effective use of Copilot in February.

The Generative AI Feature Catalog was created by the Learning Technologies and Innovation team and was posted on the ITS website in May but will be updated in late Spring 2026, according to the university. It lists the different AI tools the school pays for, including Gradescope, Minitab, NVIVO, Elai, Piazza, Turnitin and Zoom.

“Because students, faculty, and staff already use these tools daily for coursework, research, and administrative work, providing Copilot allows the university to explore AI in a secure, supported, and responsible way,” the university said in an email to The Phoenix. “The goal is to help our community work more efficiently, reduce routine tasks, and build familiarity with AI technologies that students will increasingly encounter in their academic and professional lives.”

Steven Keith Platt, the executive lecturer for applied AI and a contributor to the creation of the business of applied AI minor which debuted fall 2025, teaches many of the curriculum’s courses to an enrollment of 62 students, immediately popular amidst its initial rollout. 

“It’s just having a massive impact on business jobs and careers,” Platt said. “My students come out with that AI minor — it really distinguishes them from a lot of other business students.”

Additionally, Platt serves as the director of the lab for applied AI, which he helped found in fall 2025. Third-year finance major Jonathan Takyi worked at the Lab for Applied AI in summer 2025, which prompted him to add a business of applied AI minor.

“When I’ve gone into interviews and things like that, they love the fact that I have an AI minor because all their future businesses, whether they like it or not, are gonna involve some sort of AI,” Takyi said.

Takyi said he uses AI almost every day, particularly using his AI agent on Gemini to send him a daily report which includes relevant news articles, weather reports, local crime updates and stock market information.

“Once you truly understand the art and the science between how AI actually works, you could truly use it to your advantage in every single thing you do,” Takyi said.

Platt said it’s important for students to know how to utilize AI tools. Before he let Takyi begin working with the lab, he required the student to read a book on the ethics of AI. While his classes require AI use, he expects students to also prove they understand how its results, often having them complete handproofs.

“Just because you use ChatGPT doesn’t make you an AI expert,” Platt said. 

George Thiruvathukal, professor and department chairperson of computer science, said he’s an advocate for AI and helped push the new minors — the other being the artificial intelligence minor. Additionally, the university is planning on adding a new minor beginning in fall 2026, “artificial intelligence and human flourishing,” as a joint program between the computer science and philosophy departments. 

The new minor would include basic computing AI courses, and would provide a pathway for humanities students to pick up technological skills related to AI through teaching ethical and responsible uses of AI and understanding the connection between AI and philosophy, according to Thiruvathukal.

AI and other technologies continue to have larger environmental impacts, particularly through their need for data centers to power them, the Associated Press reported. Platt said the environmental impact is something he’s thinking about but said it isn’t his expertise.

“I care about that kind of stuff, and I wish it was different and all that good stuff,” Platt said. “It’s driving up electricity costs for people. I mean, of course, I care because I’m a half decent human being, but I leave that to the experts in environmental to think about those things and how to do it better. I’m just an AI engineer, so it’s out of my lane.” 

Efforts are being made to create and use cleaner energy sources to power datacenters and other technologies, with the latest hope being nuclear energy, AP reported.

Sophie Vodvarka, adjunct professor in the School of Communication, currently teaches “Ethics and Communication” which discusses the ethics of AI. She doesn’t require or encourage the use of AI in any assignments, but thinks students should be taught to be confident in making ethical decisions around the use of AI technologies.

Vodvarka said she hopes Loyola can incorporate more classes about AI in the future, and wants Loyola to lean into its Jesuit social justice mission to look at the role and impact of AI to help students think critically about AI to make their own decisions.

“People really need to do their own research on these topics, and what I hope is that a lot of the messaging communicated to students is that they can make good, independent decisions about how they use AI and technology in their lives,” Vodvarkas said.

Cordelia De La Fuente, a third-year neuroscience major with a minor in business of applied artificial intelligence, is vice president of operations in the LAIS, a student organization which aims to bridge the gap between AI and business.

“I think people are starting to catch on to the idea that it’s going to be something that you’re either talking about in the workplace or hearing about another place,” De La Fuente said. “It’s not really going to replace you, but somebody who knows how to use it is going to replace you.”

De La Fuente said she wants there to be a smart approach to AI and use it as an assistant rather than doing things for you.

The business of applied AI minor requires an “Ethics in Business” class and the AI minor requires a “Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing” class, according to Loyola’s academic catalog.

“I think that AI business ethics class is probably the most important one that people are going to take away from their academic career,” De La Fuente said. “Because knowing how to use it in an ethical context, where you can make a decision knowing what the implications are, is huge.”