The Digital Press

Stanford integrated AI tools into its graduate national security policy class to enhance students' ability to analyze complex geopolitical and technological issues through experiential learning and stakeholder engagement. The course combined AI-driven document summarization, synthesis, and simulation with real-world interviews to deepen understanding of U.S. strategic competition.

Why it matters: AI accelerated policy analysis and stakeholder mapping, enabling students to handle vast documents and generate actionable insights more efficiently.

The big picture: This approach reflects a shift in education, preparing future policy leaders to operate in an AI-enabled world with advanced technological fluency.

Lessons learned: Students creatively used multiple AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Mermaid, etc.) for summarizing, critiquing, interviewing, and presenting, but human oversight remained critical.

Commenters say: Some question whether AI shortcuts true learning or understanding, stressing the importance of critical thinking and original source reading alongside AI assistance.