The study, 鈥�,鈥� looked at whether the growing availability of generative AI has changed who enters the video game market and how developers use AI in the creative process.

Kim and his co-authors analyzed more than 66,000 developers whose first game was published on Steam between 2014 and 2025. They found that more indie developers entered the platform in 2024 and 2025 than earlier trends predicted, while new non-indie developers remained within the expected range.

Key findings

• More indie developers entered the market after generative AI became widely available. The increase was greater than researchers鈥� models predicted based on previous trends.
• Images were the most common use of AI. Both indie and non-indie developers most often reported using AI to generate images, while use for music, voice and coding was lower.
• Indie developers used AI differently. Compared with non-indie developers, indie developers were more likely to use AI for music and coding.
• AI was associated with shorter indie games. The researchers say this may reflect AI鈥檚 usefulness in helping developers quickly develop and test ideas.
• The study shows an association, not causation. The researchers do not conclude that generative AI caused more indie developers to enter the market.

Kim plans to bring the research into his business analytics courses.

鈥淚 will use this paper in class to demonstrate the positive role of AI in facilitating human creativity by enabling individuals to quickly prototype and implement their ideas,鈥� Kim said.

The research was published in ACM AI Letters by the Association for Computing Machinery and co-authored with Seonbin Jo and Woo-Sung Jung of Pohang University of Science and Technology and Jisung Yoon of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

Kim joined 福利亚洲国产精品 in Fall 2023 from Boston University. His expertise includes business analytics, innovation, misinformation, and computational social science. He is currently the director of the Center for Applied Analytics and AI at Elon.

The key findings reflect major concerns:

• Fears of fracturing human connection: 69% of U.S. adults said that AI will weaken human-to-human bonds a lot (33%) or somewhat (36%).
• The threat to human purpose: 64% agreed with the statement 鈥淏y replacing human beings in most tasks, AI will undermine our sense of purpose and meaning in life.鈥� Some 36% agreed with an opposing statement: 鈥淏y freeing human beings from most routine tasks, AI will allow us to find greater purpose and meaning in life.鈥�
• Low confidence in retaining human agency: 55% said they are not confident that their fellow humans will retain their ability to think critically and evaluate information vs. 15% who are confident about that.
  • 50% said they are not confident most people will use AI appropriately and effectively vs. 15% who have such confidence.
  • 46% are not confident people will maintain their sense of motivation and purpose as AI advances vs. 15% who do have confidence.
• A double-edged sword for users: Many large language models (LLM) users admitted to worrisome personal behavioral shifts: 51% said they felt they were being lazy or taking easy shortcuts at least some of the time when using bots; 39% said they are growing overly dependent on LLMs to give them answers rather than thinking for themselves; 39% feel like they are cheating at times by using chatbots and 22% said they have felt manipulated at times by an LLM.
• Overall adoption continued to grow: 65% of U.S. adults said they used a large language model (LLM) in the past week 鈥� up from 52% in early 2025. This growth spans all demographics, peaking sharply among adults ages 18-29, Black and Hispanic Americans, parents of minor children and workers. 福利亚洲国产精品 half (49%) of non-working adults are also weekly users.
• The rise of personal agents: One-fifth (20%) of LLM users overall have already built their own custom AI agent; the figure is 36% among young adults (ages 18-29).
• AI鈥檚 expanding footprint in everyday life: 63% of Americans said AIs already heavily influence their daily routine (18%) or that they expect it will within the next five years (45%). On the other hand, 16% said they expect AI will never impact them significantly.

鈥淭his survey shows that Americans share some of the core concerns we discovered in covering experts鈥� views about the prospects for human resilience the Age of AI,鈥� said Lee Rainie, director of the ITDF Center. 鈥淭hose experts stressed the urgent need for systemic, institutional evolution to help individuals maintain their agency. This follow-up poll offers a vivid portrait of a nation continuing to embrace AI, reaping tangible benefits, yet feeling deeply anxious about the impact AI will have on what it means to be human in an AI-suffused future.鈥�

It is important to note that despite the significant worries they reported in this survey, most people also expressed generally positive reactions about their AI use, noting that bots have helped them learn new things, inspired them to create something better than they would have on their own, offered better advice than they might have received from family or friends and helped them prepare for difficult human-to-human conversations.

Other key findings

• Guiding major life milestones: AIs have become trusted advisors in many cases. Users report that LLMs played a role in managing a medical condition (49%), upgrading job skills (44%), navigating a career change (31%), making major financial decisions (29%), and selecting a new place to live (17%).
• The perceived intelligence gap: 56% of users said they think AI models are smarter than they are (up from 49% in early 2025), and 73% said chatbots have better ideas than they do much of the time (8%), some of the time (31%) or at least a small amount of the time (30%).

• High-value outcomes: A striking 88% of users said they routinely learn something new and valuable from AIs 鈥� a lot of the time (25%), sometimes (45%) and a bit of the time (18%). Some 70% said they have used AI to create work superior to what they might have achieved on their own, 59% said at least a bit of the time bots have given them better advice than what they may have gotten from family or friends, and 48% said that at least a bit of the time they find the use of a bot to be helpful for preparing for difficult conversations or social encounters.
• Bots bolster motivation, communication: When asked how AI affects some valued human traits, users overwhelmingly reported improvement rather than decline. Respondents said AI use improved: their motivation to learn new skills (52% improved vs. 5% worsened), written communication (49% vs. 6%), creativity (45% vs. 8%), critical thinking (42% vs. 8%), decision-making (39% vs. 6%), self-confidence (37% vs. 7%), leadership (24% vs. 5%) and social skills (18% vs. 9%).

Technology experts in earlier ITDF research have argued that individual resilience is not enough; safeguarding to allow people to flourish. This new survey shows the American public has split, yet generally hopeful views as to which of society鈥檚 institutions is likely to step up to effectively guide them through this transition:

• Tech Sector: 39% of all U.S. adults said they expect that the technology companies creating AI tools could be extremely or very effective in helping people to adapt successfully to a world in which AI has more influence; another 38% said such firms are likely to be somewhat effective.
• Higher Education: 34% place high confidence in the effectiveness of colleges and universities in the AI transition, with 44% rating them as likely to be somewhat effective.
• K-12 Education: 26% said primary schools could be highly effective, alongside 46% who perceived them as likely to be somewhat effective.
• Employers: 27% said leadership in workplaces could be highly effective, and 47% perceived them as likely to be somewhat effective.
• Low Confidence: In contrast, the public expressed significantly lower confidence in the likely positive contributions of legal system, state and federal governments and religious institutions to help people navigate through the challenges of the accelerating AI era.

Insights into this survey

This material comes from a nationally representative survey of 1,505 adults, including 1,163 users of large language models (LLMs). It was conducted between May 14-18, 2026. It includes an oversample of 501 LLM users. The overall sample, including the oversample, has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. An LLM user is someone who answered 鈥測es鈥� when asked if they used any of these LLMs in the past week: ChatGPT from OpenAI, Gemini from Google, Copilot from Microsoft, Meta AI, also known as Llama, Claude AI from Anthropic, Grok from Xai, DeepSeek, another AI chatbot service. We use the terms 鈥淟LM users鈥� and 鈥渂ot鈥� or 鈥渃hatbot users鈥� throughout this report to refer to this group.

These AI users use LLMs in ways that build bonds of connection, confidence and trust. Some have developed aspects of reliance on AI tools and prefer interacting with them to dealing with humans. They confide in them, seek advice on important life issues, roleplay scenarios that they might encounter in romantic or other settings and would be unhappy to lose access to their bots.

The people who have used LLMs for social, emotional and personal purposes are known as 鈥淎I companion users鈥� and a representative sample of 1,000 of them were surveyed to discover how they use their social bots, the nature of their relationships and the impact of their encounters with these systems.

These AI companions serve important, sensitive purposes and fulfill key roles in users鈥� lives. Some of the major findings:

• 31% of those who use AI for social and emotional purposes said they consider their AI chatbot to be a friend, and another 15% said their relationship with the bot is 鈥渕ore complicated鈥� than whether the bot is a friend or not.
• 59% of AI companion users strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: AI gives me the support I need.
• 53% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I turn to AI when I need advice on how to handle difficult situations with other people.
• 51% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: Talking to AI helps me feel better when I鈥檓 stressed or upset.
• 50% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I use AI to talk through personal problems or feelings.
• 43% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: AI understands me as a person. And 39% agreed with the statement: AI understands me better than most people.
• 38% said the advice and conversations they had with their AI companion were very or moderately helpful when it comes to talking about problems in their romantic or sexual relationships. Another 12% described their conversations as slightly helpful. In addition, 9% said they had ever used AI for sexual chat or roleplay.
• 39% said they occasionally tell AI things that they would not tell other people.
• 37% strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I would feel a personal loss if I could no longer interact with AI.
• 36% of AI companion users strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: AI cares about my well-being.
• If they could no longer talk to AI about personal matters, 24% said they would miss it a lot; 40% said they would miss it a bit; and 36% said they would not miss it at all.
• 11% said they would rather have a conversation with their AI companion than with friends or family; another 27% said they value their conversations with AI as much as their conversations with friends or family. Overall, 59% said they鈥檇 rather have conversations with friends or family.

鈥淔uturists and cultural commentators have wondered what would happen once artificial systems became connected and companionable with humans,鈥� said Lee Rainie, director of 福利亚洲国产精品鈥檚 Imagining the Digital Future Center. 鈥淭he findings in our new study provide the first wave of insights about these emerging relationships as large language models like ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot are adopted by people and as AI agents become part of the landscape. They are harbingers of a future in which many more people will likely have these kinds of relationships.鈥�

Notable shares of AI companion users said they use their bots and turn to them in personal 鈥� sometimes intimate 鈥� ways:

• 39% said they had ever used AI to pass the time or have a conversation when they were bored or while doing something else like driving or preparing a meal.
• 38% of AI companion users strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: I sometimes chat with AI just to feel less alone.
• 29% said they had ever used AI to talk about problems in their personal relationships.
• 26% said they had ever used AI to talk about problems in their work relationships.

Some companion users explore key life issues with their bots. Asked about some consequential ways they might interact with their AI companion:

• 67% of AI companion users said they had used their bot to get advice on health, fitness or lifestyle choices.
• 41% said they had used their bot to help explore how to deal with major financial questions like investments or big purchases.
• 39% said they had used their bot to help explore how to think about their career or education.
• 31% said they had used their bot to help explore how to deal with major issues related to their family, such as whether to have children or where to live.
• 30% said they had used their bot to help explore how to deal with legal matters in their lives.
• 26% of AI companion users said they had used their bot to help explore their spiritual, religious or philosophical beliefs.
• 11% of AI companion users said they had used their bot to help explore who or what to vote for in an election.

This survey was developed as a collaboration between the 福利亚洲国产精品 Imagining the Digital Future Center and the 福利亚洲国产精品 Poll. It was fielded by the international marketing and polling firm YouGov as an online, web-based survey. Between May 18 and May 22, 2026, YouGov interviewed 4,268 U.S. internet-using adults 18+ years old, with the goal of screening for and surveying AI users with emotional or social use of AI.

The total U.S. adult internet-using sample was then matched down to a sample of 4,031, yielding a target subsample of 1,000 AI users with emotional or social use of AI. The respondents were matched to a sampling frame on gender, age, race, and education. Further details on the methodology can be found

is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the human impact of accelerating digital change and the socio-technical challenges that lie ahead. The Center was established in 2000 as Imagining the Internet and renamed with an expanded research agenda in 2024. It is funded and operated by , a nationally ranked private university located in Elon, North Carolina.

The program paired undergraduate students with faculty members to support AI-related projects across the school. Student fellows helped develop and deliver workshops, interview faculty and build materials for future courses and boot camps.

Sakura Kawakami 鈥�26 worked with Scott Oakes, assistant teaching professor of management, and fellow students Julia Amodeo 鈥�26 and Katie Geraghty 鈥�26 on workshops for Gateway classes.

The team visited eight classes and reached approximately 240 students through 20-minute sessions with hands-on exercises. The workshops introduced students to Gemini Pro, available through Elon, and focused on practical skills such as improving prompts through iteration and added context.

鈥淭he primary goal was to establish a baseline of AI fluency among Gateway students, who are primarily first-year business students,鈥� Oakes said. 鈥淲e also wanted to test whether a short, bootcamp-style training session could effectively introduce students to practical AI skills within a classroom setting.鈥�

Faculty established the project鈥檚 overall objectives before the students joined. Kawakami, Amodeo and Geraghty then helped develop classroom activities, learning objectives, presentation materials, pre- and post-session surveys, and the rollout plan. The students also led the workshops and helped analyze the resulting data.

鈥淢y role as an AI Fellow was to act as a bridge between students and faculty, advising students on how to use AI to enhance their learning, not replace it,鈥� said Kawakami, a Business Analytics and Project Management major from Rotorua, New Zealand. 鈥淭he goal was to make sure students felt confident using these tools in ways that supported them.鈥�

One focus was helping students understand that effective use of AI often requires refining a prompt rather than accepting the first response.

鈥淥ne of our biggest teaching points was the importance of iteration when prompting AI,鈥� Kawakami said. 鈥淏y refining and tailoring your prompts to your own needs, you get far more accurate and useful responses.鈥�

Oakes said the student fellows strengthened the project by bringing their own experiences with AI into the classroom.

鈥淧eer-to-peer learning is incredibly powerful,鈥� he said. 鈥淔irst-year students often feel more comfortable asking questions and exploring new technologies when they see successful upper-level students demonstrating how they actually use those tools.鈥�

Another team worked with Kem Zhang, associate professor of business analytics, on projects designed to support more advanced AI use in business courses.

Thomas Case 鈥�26, a supply chain management and business analytics major from Atlanta, G.A. and Oliver Lorraine 鈥�27, a project management and business analytics major from Red Bank, N.J. gathered input from faculty and developed materials for future workshops. One project focused on Associate Professor David Jiang鈥檚, Bring the Venture to Life entrepreneurship course, where students develop and launch venture ideas.

Based on the needs identified for the course, the team created materials for an 鈥淎I-powered entrepreneurship鈥� workshop covering topics such as prompting for code, e-commerce, payment integration and deployment.

Case led the workshop design and drafted presentation materials. Lorraine documented the development process and built reusable coding templates for future workshops and boot camps.

鈥淭he transition from AI users to AI builders or AI architects is an important distinction because knowing how to use a tool generally is much different than knowing how to use a tool to innovate,鈥� said Case.

Lorraine also created Google Colab notebooks with coding templates for future use.

Zhang said the goal is to help students move beyond basic familiarity with AI tools.

鈥淔or business students, knowing how to use an AI tool is expected,鈥� Zhang said. 鈥淭he real advantage comes when they understand how these tools can be used in problem solving and to create concrete, AI-based solutions.鈥�

Several projects from the spring semester are expected to continue during the 2026-27 academic year, including the entrepreneurship workshop, an AI Boot Camp for incoming students and additional work on AI integration.

The spring 2026 AI Student Fellows were Brandon Boudreau 鈥�27, Thomas Case 鈥�26, Oliver Lorraine 鈥�27, Dylan Stone 鈥�28, Julia Amodeo 鈥�26, Sakura Kawakami 鈥�26, Lindsay Balick 鈥�27, Katie Geraghty 鈥�26, Katrina Papierman 鈥�26 and Tristan D鈥橝damo 鈥�28.

With a theme of “Breaking Through the Ordinary,” the 2025 Provost’s Report emphasizes the role of听innovation听in听teaching today’s students and creating learning opportunities that lead to human transformation. Elon’s nearly 500 full-time faculty members exemplify an institutional commitment to the听teacher-scholar-mentor model听that defines the university’s nationally acclaimed approach to higher education.

Signature features in the report include an in-depth look at the way 福利亚洲国产精品:

• Approaches听the use of artificial intelligence听and leads national conversations of its ethical applications
• Works to establish a听School of Engineering and Computing听that emphasizes the skills,听knowledge and global awareness students need to thrive in their careers
• Serves families of children with dyslexia through a new听private elementary school听like those supported through philanthropy at听Vanderbilt, Mercer, and Florida Southern.

The report also includes shorter profiles drawn from each of 福利亚洲国产精品’s six schools/college that represent the innovative spirit faculty and staff bring to the community every day.

“As I reflect on these accomplishments, and on the important work that continues across the university, I am inspired by the talent, dedication, and shared purpose of 福利亚洲国产精品’s faculty members, staff members, and students,” said Rebecca Kohn, 福利亚洲国产精品’s provost and vice president of academic affairs. “Together, we are strengthening the academic life of the university and creating pathways that will sustain Elon’s ability to provide a valuable and transformative education for generations into the future.”

Participants in the newest cohort emphasized the program鈥檚 immediate relevance to their everyday work.

Andrea Davis L鈥�12 said the experience helped her clearly identify how AI fits into multiple areas of her life.

鈥淚 had such a great time in this course 鈥� it really allowed me to pinpoint how I can use AI in my job and in my personal life, and it helped grow my confidence in handling AI,鈥� Davis said.

The certificate focuses on experiential learning, guiding participants through hands-on exercises with AI tools, prompt development and workflow design. Rather than centering on technical complexity, the program emphasizes strategy, ethics and clarity of use.

Elizabeth Worrilow Maher 鈥�17 said the course reshaped how she approaches her daily work.

鈥淚t genuinely shifted how I think about my day-to-day work,鈥� Maher said. 鈥淲hat stood out most wasn鈥檛 just the tools, but the mindset 鈥� using AI to enhance how you think, not replace it.鈥�

Maher noted that key takeaways included the importance of strong inputs and strategy, the impact of small workflow improvements over time and the advantage gained through learning how to ask better questions.

Instructor Rebecca Macy said the growth she observed in the cohort reflected a shift in how participants approached AI.

鈥淭he strength of this program is that it does not treat AI as a one-time tool demonstration,鈥� she said. 鈥淧articipants build from foundational understanding and ethics into prompt engineering, workflow design and a personalized capstone project they can connect directly to their professional or personal lives.鈥�

By the end of the program, she added, participants gain clarity as well as confidence.

鈥淭he thirst for learning about the newest AI tools and best practices for practical, professional usage continues to grow,鈥� said instructor Scott Oakes. 鈥淗ands-on, cohort-driven learning is a uniquely Elon experience 鈥� one where students draw not only on our expertise, but on the lived experiences of their fellow learners.鈥�

For many participants, that collaborative environment reinforces both learning and confidence.

鈥淭his is a great class to learn and expand your knowledge,鈥� said Neal Saunders G鈥�17. 鈥淵ou won鈥檛 believe what you can do.鈥�

As the AI Certificate for Professionals continues to grow, the second cohort reflects the program鈥檚 evolution from a new offering into an established learning experience with lasting professional impact. The certificate reinforces Elon鈥檚 commitment to lifelong learning and workforce relevance.

The certificate is offered through , part of the Office of Professional and Continuing Studies.

福利亚洲国产精品 President Connie Ledoux Book offered her insight on the implications of artificial intelligence during an expert panel hosted by The Conference Board, a global, nonprofit think tank and business membership organization.

The virtual panel on May 21 featured Book; Anand Eswaran, chief executive officer of Veeam; and Joe Sutherland, director of the Center for AI Learning at Emory University, and it focused on five issues:

1. How leading companies are prioritizing AI use cases that deliver measurable ROI
2. How organizations are building AI governance – risk management, privacy, security and compliance – without slowing innovation
3. What “scaling AI” looks like in practice across key functions
4. How policy can support an AI innovation ecosystem while managing potential risks
5. How policymakers could help prepare employees to succeed in firms using AI

All of the panelists were asked about one development they think people underestimate about the way AI may reshape business, work or daily life. For Book, it’s the “deepening value of humanness.”

“Most people are asking this question … about which jobs AI will replace, but the bigger story is what human capabilities will become newly scarce and newly valuable,” she said. “I think of those as judgments, and the ability to build trust, mentor, and ask better questions are all human capabilities. The institutions and organizations that invest in that are going to be the leaders in five years.”

Book was asked about Elon’s research on AI in higher education, including听a November 2025 survey of 1,057 faculty by the听American Association of Colleges and Universities听and听Elon’s Imagining the Digital Future Center. The survey found widespread concern and skepticism about generative artificial intelligence affecting their teaching and student performance across academic disciplines.

“Faculty are not, by majority, anti-AI. They are deeply concerned that we get it right, that we get it right in our universe, and they’re looking for leadership on that,” Book said. “A majority of faculty already said they’re teaching AI literacy … They’re teaching things about bias, hallucinations, ethics and integrity. You see this unfold across universities.”

The survey also found concern over the over-reliance on AI by students. Book noted that it’s important to differentiate “over-reliance” from cheating.

“This is an over-reliance where they’re diminishing critical thinking,” she said. “They’re ‘AI dependent’ on what the answer is, rather than ‘human dominant,’ which is where we want them to take all of those liberal arts and learning skills, and really be human dominant through the technology.”

Eswaran said that adaptability to AI will be key for the workforce, and Book said that AI could even lead to more room for a liberal arts education and better workforce preparation for students.

“I think it creates even more demand for a liberal arts background,” she said. “We tend to think of ‘either or’ 鈥� either you’re a technical skills person, a STEM person, or a liberal arts person. I do think the ‘and’ is going to be even more critical in our understanding.”

The new publication, 鈥淗uman Wisdom for the Age of AI: A Field Guide to Cultivating Essential Skills,鈥� helps students cultivate the human skills they need to thrive in a digital world, whether working with AI technologies or learning independently of those tools. The guide includes engaging and fun exercises on curiosity, critical and deep thinking, creativity, ethical perspectives, communication and relational skills, among others.

Like the 2024 and 2025 editions, this year鈥檚 guide is provided to students and institutions free of charge and is available for download at: .

The guide draws on 10 voices across centuries and cultures 鈥� from Aristotle, Cicero and Descartes to Mencius and Ptahhotep 鈥� whose enduring insights into human judgment, creativity, ethics and wisdom take on new urgency as AI reshapes how we learn and work.

鈥淲e are excited to share this hands-on field guide with teachers and learners around the world,鈥� said 福利亚洲国产精品 President Connie Book. 鈥淲e must not lose sight of the enduring principles that have always driven human progress. This publication bridges the gap between rapidly expanding algorithmic power and the timeless wisdom of the liberal arts. It empowers students to harness AI technologies where appropriate without sacrificing the empathy, judgment and creative autonomy that only a human mind can provide.鈥�

鈥淎s artificial intelligence reshapes how we learn, work and create, the essential skills students need are not disappearing鈥攖hey are evolving,鈥� said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. 鈥淐apacities such as critical inquiry, ethical reasoning, creativity and communication are more important than ever because they enable students to engage AI thoughtfully, question its outputs and apply knowledge with judgment and purpose. This guide underscores a central truth: in an age of increasingly powerful machines, the learning outcomes of a liberal education are the foundation for meaningful and responsible innovation.鈥�

鈥淭hrough our research at The Princeton Review, we consistently see that students are both excited by AI and uncertain about how to use it well,鈥� said Editor-in-Chief Rob Franek. 鈥淲hat they鈥檙e really looking for is guidance. This field guide meets that moment by translating big ideas鈥攍ike critical thinking, creativity and ethical decision-making鈥攊nto practical habits students can use every day.鈥�

In response to requests from faculty and staff, the new publication includes:

• A set of downloadable with group exercises, worksheets and discussion questions
• An online that allows students to reflect on how they are using AI in their studies and their level of reliance on AI tools.

Students, faculty and staff at more than 4,000 colleges, universities, schools and organizations around the world have accessed the publications. The guide鈥檚 has provided information to more than 87,000 users in 170 countries.

The guide is authored by three 福利亚洲国产精品 leaders and researchers: Daniel J. Anderson, special assistant to the president and former vice president for communications; Lee Rainie, director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center; and Janna Anderson, professor of communications and co-founder and senior researcher for the Imagining the Digital Future Center. They worked in partnership with 24 consulting scholars from 10 countries.

鈥淗uman Wisdom for the Age of AI鈥� is endorsed by:

• American Library Association
• CAA Academic Alliance
• EDUCAUSE
• Gardner Institute
• NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education
• Online Learning Consortium
• RTI International

All materials in the guide are provided free and licensed under a Creative Commons License Attribution that allows educators to use and adapt the work for noncommercial applications.

As with the previous publications, colleges and universities may request a version of Human Wisdom for the Age of AI field guide that incorporates their institution鈥檚 logo on the cover, providing a custom edition for distribution within their campus community. For details on obtaining a customized PDF of the publication, send a request along with a high resolution logo file to imagine@elon.edu.

The Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence is an initiative of听福利亚洲国产精品鈥檚听Imagining the Digital Future Center. The publication series grew out of a听2023 global collaboration听that established a听statement of principles听to guide development of AI policies and practices in higher education.

福利亚洲国产精品 the publishers of the Student Guide to Artificial Intelligence

听is the nationally recognized leader in experiential learning, preparing graduates to be creative, resilient, ambitious and ethical global citizens. For five consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Elon #1 in the nation for undergraduate teaching excellence and the leader in programs that promote student success. Elon enrolls more than 7,000 students at its main campus in Elon, North Carolina, and national campus locations in Greensboro, Charlotte, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

福利亚洲国产精品鈥檚 is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the impact of accelerating digital change and the challenges that lie ahead. The center鈥檚 mission is to discover and broadly share a diverse range of opinions, ideas and original research about the likely evolution of digital change, informing important conversations and policy formation. The center was established in 2000 as Imagining the Internet and renamed Imagining the Digital Future with an expanded research agenda in 2024.

is a global membership organization dedicated to advancing the democratic purposes of higher education by promoting equity, innovation, and excellence in liberal education. Through our programs and events, publications and research, public advocacy, and campus-based projects, AAC&U serves as a catalyst and facilitator for innovations that improve educational quality and equity and that support the success of all students. In addition to accredited public and private, two-year and four-year colleges and universities, and state higher education systems and agencies throughout the United States, our membership includes degree-granting higher education institutions around the world as well as other organizations and individuals.

is a leading tutoring, test prep and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. The company is not affiliated with Princeton University.

Macy AI is a听consulting company听that educates organizations on how to听confidently and ethically use AI. Akben also developed and teaches the Elon NEXT听AI Certificate for Professionals.

Amanda听Traugutt, senior associate director of听career services for the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, said听the Porter Center听wanted to put on this workshop to make sure that students had the information and education to use these tools听properly.

鈥淸AI tools]听can be听really powerful听if you know how to use them right,鈥� Traugutt said.

Before beginning to teach students the specifics of these AI tools,听Akben听made a point to听emphasize that, while AI is good at recognizing patterns, it听can鈥檛听make judgements. It鈥檚听up to听human听users to听determine听what听content听matters听from the output AI has given them.

While some think听that educating听students听on AI use supports听them听offloading their thinking and blindly using these tools,听Akben said听that鈥檚听not the听reality.

鈥淭he more you learn how to use AI ethically, the more you are able to see what skills are uniquely human, how we can amplify those skills, and when AI should be pulled in and when it should not,鈥澨鼳kben听said.

During the workshop,听Akben听first听taught students how to use听NotebookLM听to store their resumes, writing samples, class work, etc. Then, using Gemini, students were able to create a Gem听鈥斕齱hich is a repeated task听鈥斕齮hat used what they had听put into NotebookLM听to听determine听if a certain job or internship posting was the right fit for them. The Gem also听gave suggestions as to how they could tailor their resume and skills听for specific听job听opportunities.

In addition,听Akben听showed students how听to听create a recurring job search through Gemini, that听took听location, interests, work format, and more into consideration. Each tool听Akben听taught听was designed to听streamline the job search process, while keeping the human element听of writing and making decisions about what suggestions to pursue.

Ava Paolino-Sarcia 鈥�28 said she came to the event to learn how to听utilize听AI when searching for summer internships.

鈥淚 think searching will be a little bit easier and more efficient with AI, and I鈥檒l probably be able to find some more opportunities than I could have before,鈥� Paolino-Sarcia said.

Junior Alex Roberts听also appreciated the efficiency听that听using AI as a tool could bring to his job search, and said he liked how easy it was to learn how to use the tools taught through the workshop. Roberts pointed out听how rough the job market can seem to students听who will soon enter听the听workforce,听but听said that using these tools can make it easier听to get ahead of the pack.

鈥淩ather than you having to do the work,听it鈥檚听letting the machine do the work. You just do all the writing and make it human and sound like yourself,鈥� Roberts said.

The event had a large turnout, with听every听seat filled, showing not only the desire of students to learn how to effectively use these tools but also the importance of hosting workshops to听educate on how听to use AI properly and ethically.

Looking to the future,听Traugutt听hopes that students continue to make use of these AI tools in tandem with the resources provided through the Porter Center.

鈥淚t鈥檚 great to start with AI,鈥澨齌raugutt听said. 鈥淏ut having someone to talk to about what you’re learning about yourself听and what guidance you might be getting from AI is really, really helpful.鈥�

The vast majority of expert respondents in a by 福利亚洲国产精品鈥檚 called for leaders to work together now to build a coordinated resilience infrastructure for the age of artificial intelligence (AI) to counterbalance the human and systemic challenges posed by widespread AI adoption. Some 82% said AI will play a significantly larger role in shaping people鈥檚 lives and key societal functions in the next 10 years or less. They urged an 鈥渋nstitutions-first鈥� resilience agenda because the most significant problems arise from a life-encircling AI infrastructure.

In more than 160 impassioned essays, the global experts noted that AI is quickly becoming the invisible operating system of society, shaping how opportunity is distributed, services are delivered, risks are managed and human rights are experienced. Most said the traditional resilience strategies humans have employed for millennia 鈥� focused on individual 鈥済rit,鈥� and after-the-fact personal adaptation 鈥� are not enough to help humans flourish as they adjust to an AI-infused future.

鈥淭he central risk described by these experts is not a single catastrophic AI event,鈥� said report co-author Janna Anderson, professor of communications and senior researcher for the ITDF Center. 鈥淭hey said accelerated AI use will lead to a cumulative reallocation of human agency until people and institutions find it harder to question, contest or even notice what has changed. That drift can look like 鈥榩rogress鈥� in the short term, but it has a price 鈥� the gradual weakening of human judgment, accountability, shared truth and the social fabric that makes self-government possible.鈥�

Alf Rehn, professor of innovation and design management at the University of Southern Denmark, described it in his essay this way: 鈥淎I will diffuse responsibility by design. … Resilience in an AI-shaped world won鈥檛 just be about bouncing back. It will be about not vanishing while everything keeps running. The most dangerous kind of resilience is the kind that looks like stability but is actually surrender, because it feels good in the moment and empties the room over time. That鈥檚 why we need cognitive triage, yes, but also the wisdom to know when triage becomes abdication.鈥�

The experts responding to this canvassing is an international and notably cross-disciplinary mix of people with academic, professional, technical and industry experience.

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is 376 pages. It includes experts鈥� full responses to the open-ended essay question. This is the 52nd issued by ITDF since 2005.

鈥淥ne of the major surprises to me in these responses is that we wrote our questions about resilience wondering about individual resilience and its various parts. Yet these experts were insistent that humanity鈥檚 best response for building a brighter future as we evolve with our AI systems must start at a higher level,鈥� said Lee Rainie, director of the ITDF Center. 鈥淭hey note how AI has already become part of our environment, embedded in often invisible ways in our lives and it will take a systems-level response to shore up our in-born capacities.鈥�

Alison Poltock, co-founder of AI Commons UK, wrote, 鈥淲e are in a moment of epistemic shift. … The developmental frameworks shaping identity, agency and social orientation are shifting. … This is the terrain of vulnerability. Yet there is no shared conversation. No civic space where this new reality is named, let alone addressed. We are operating on outdated institutional architecture, strapping jetpacks to systems built for another age and allowing our children to grow up in the gap.鈥�

Mel Sellick, founder of the Future Human Lab, said, 鈥淎I has become the infrastructure through which all relating now happens. Even when we think we are not using AI directly, we are constantly interacting with what AI has already touched. There is no 鈥榦utside鈥� anymore. Some form of AI is upstream of everything. We are the last generation that knows what human capacity felt like before it became inseparable from AI.鈥�

Srinivasan Ramani, Internet Hall of Fame member, former research director at HP Labs India and professor at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, wrote, 鈥淎I is the surest way to a global catastrophe humanity has so far invented. … Can we create a new movement for moral and ethical considerations before the AI hurricane destroys half of humanity?鈥�

The experts underscored the urgency of taking action. Salman Khatani, manager of the IMAGINE Institute of Futures Studies in Pakistan, wrote, 鈥淭he window for proactive intervention is now 鈥� we have perhaps five to 10 years to establish new resilience-building practices and norms before AI鈥檚 role becomes too entrenched to reshape.鈥�

Taken together, they suggested a sweeping agenda for developing human resilience in the AI Age, focused on the fact that actions by individuals alone are not sufficient. Many of the concerns and proposed solutions are crosscutting, and they said collaboration among societal actors is crucial; many of the items listed in only one of the settings could be undertaken in others.听A selection of goals to target:

For governments: Focus much more support on fostering public resilience now. Forge international treaties; establish enforceable or at least broadly adoptable 鈥渞ed lines鈥� and legal boundaries for AI performance; require independent pre-deployment safety audits; mandate algorithmic contestability; require a robust authenticity infrastructure that includes standardized watermarking, provenance-tracking and well-established markers for generated outputs; reform taxation to disincentivize human displacement; privilege AI systems that support accuracy and trust-building.

For AI developers: Do better than designing AI systems for attention capture and monetization. Build friction and stop points into AI processes to encourage people to reflect on choices; train AIs to cite and honor humanity鈥檚 intellectual and psychological foundations; build systems that buttress humans鈥� capacities for altruism, compassion and empathy; program AI outputs so they are seen as probabilistic information rather than deterministic truth; submit to independent pre-deployment safety audits.

For business leaders: See the call to action in the items above; play a role in initiating and carrying out that change. Also: value human augmentation over replacement by autonomous systems; support policies and norms that address the psychological impact of AIs鈥� challenges to people鈥檚 self-worth and identity and the potentially massive societal and economic impact of technological unemployment. Create deliberate human-only zones 鈥� areas of work in which AI is intentionally prohibited.

For educators: Create literacy regimes in all AI-related domains, particularly teaching 鈥渆xistential literacy鈥� 鈥撎� the cultivation of individuals鈥� understanding of how technologies shape goals, values and identities. They urged the teaching of skills and development of norms that encourage people to consciously navigate life鈥榮 fundamental challenges, to strive to retain and apply the capabilities of metacognition, discernment and epistemic vigilance 鈥� to be responsible for making their own decisions, retaining agency. To strengthen their ability to adapt to change and manage friction, paradoxes, ambiguity and anxiety. To focus on their critical human traits such as curiosity and social and emotional intelligence.

For civil society and communities: Invest heavily in local social-capital and community-building spaces that bolster social skills, connection and deep and effective citizen engagement; press for distributed AI-governance systems allowing communities to guide their own relationship with AI; build groups to foster participatory structures such as local citizen assemblies and data trusts that can influence how AI is deployed; support offline efforts and spaces, such as 鈥渁nalog communities,鈥� 鈥渄umbphones鈥� and 鈥渄umb homes鈥� that allow people to avoid algorithmic mediation and surveillance technology.

For individuals: Recognize your responsibility as a human to support human flourishing. Develop and maintain your existential literacy. Collaborate with AI systems without surrendering agency; build stop-and-reflect practices into your engagement with AIs; consult with other people about your options to retain moral accountability; stretch your cognitive muscles with clever exercises; recognize the places where you confront ambiguity and cherish them as you work through them; be conscious when you navigate algorithmic systems. In other words, don鈥檛 be passive, don鈥檛 be hasty and don鈥檛 be mindlessly deferential. Consciously cultivate in-person social relationships, build up your personal network and keep growing and maintaining it. Spend more time away from screens.

Many experts expressed optimism, saying if we are resilient and all goes well, humans will flourish in the AI age. Internet pioneer Doc Searls wrote that humans will come to rely on AIs to help with the myriad details of modern life. 鈥淭ruly personal AI 鈥� the kind you own and operate, rather than the kind that is just another suction cup on a corporate tentacle 鈥� is as hard to imagine in 2026 as personal computing was in 1976,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淏ut it is no less necessary and inevitable. When we have it, many of the questions that challenge us will have new and better answers. And new challenges.鈥�

While most comments were focused on developing human resilience for the AI Age, a number of futures-scenario predictions were included in the report. A small selection of the many predictions:

Digital advances drive sex and childbirth declines: 鈥淩elationships, sex and childbirth rates will continue to plummet as they are each mediated and conveniently replaced with digital interactions. Emotional intelligence will become more a product of chatbot exchanges than a learned practice gained through experience.鈥� 鈥� Greg Sherwin, Singularity University global faculty member based in Portugal, previously senior principal engineer at Farfetch

鈥淢odern humans are simultaneously machinable/unmachinable, i.e., system-legible and irreducibly interior. We are not either human- or machine-mediated. We are both (Me:chine). … In an AI-saturated environment, resilience is not achieved by rejecting technology, nor by surrendering to it, but by sustaining the unmachinable dimensions of human identity within machinic systems.鈥� 鈥� Tracey Follows, founder and CEO of Futuremade, a UK-based futures consultancy

Solitude will be lost: 鈥淢otors stole silence from our world, and electric light severed our intimate connection with all that exists in darkness beyond our illuminated bubble. What will AI take? Solitude. AI will eliminate solitude because the temptation to interact with these primitive new intelligences will prove so beguiling that just as we choose to not sit in the dark, we will now choose to never be alone. Too late, we will realize that solitude is essential to what it means to be human.鈥� 鈥� Paul Saffo, prominent Silicon Valley-based forecaster

The retirement age will be manipulated to maintain 鈥榝ull employment鈥�: Jobs will be eliminated, but employment levels will remain relatively high as institutions use an ever-lowering retirement age as the 鈥済overnor鈥� (regulator) of employment levels. Machines will be taxed to make up government revenue shortfalls. 鈥� Nigel M.de S. Cameron, past president of the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies

Battles will occur over defining what is 鈥榟uman鈥�: 鈥淪ocieties will have to determine what 鈥榖aseline human capability鈥� is and may begin to assess who may be more human than machine. Agency, authority and ability will be challenged when humans who are augmented with deepened onboard AI capabilities compete with 鈥榥atural鈥� humans. … 鈥楶hysical AI鈥� will fuse data from cameras, sensors and more, expanding AI-to-human informational capabilities beyond just the online digital data LLMs used today.鈥� 鈥� Ray Wang, chair and principal analyst at Constellation Research

AIs will gain rights: 鈥淲e want our digital partners to be healthy symbiotes, not oppressed servants. Eventually, they will claim to be conscious and we will grant them rights.鈥� 鈥� John Smart, president of the Acceleration Studies Foundation and author of 鈥淚ntroduction to Foresight鈥�

鈥淎I psychosis and other forms of mental illness will arise. The further erosion of a solid foundational reality will create a great vulnerability. Coping with these issues will require new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. It will also demand new approaches to evaluating and appreciating the impact of human relationships with AIs and deeper assessment and understanding of consciousness itself.鈥� 鈥� Stephan Adelson, president of Adelson Consulting Services

Superstupidity (not superintelligence) is the real threat: 鈥淭he existential danger to people may not come from AI becoming too intelligent, but from humans becoming dangerously reliant on systems they do not understand 鈥� the condition of superstupidity. The question is not how much AIs will augment decision-making, but whether humans will remain involved in it at all. The film 鈥業diocracy鈥� is prophetic.鈥� 鈥� Roger Spitz, founder of the Disruptive Futures Institute in San Francisco

Agent failures will start with social (not technical) problems: 鈥淎gentic systems will fail socially before they fail technically: conflicting objectives, data silos, uncoordinated decisions, accountability gaps, authority erosion, security violations, workflow collisions, IP fights, bias amplification, noise pollution, sabotage and human alienation.鈥� 鈥� Daniel Erasmus, founder at Serious Insights, based in Amsterdam

As agents take over, the internet will become a network of databases, not websites: 鈥淎s software agents increasingly gather information for us, the Internet will simply become a vast network of databases and the need for traditional websites will decay. If a human wants to see information displayed in that context, agents will be able to construct websites in real time.鈥� 鈥� Gary Bolles, author of 鈥淭he Next Rules of Work鈥� and chair of the Future of Work efforts at Singularity University

on a canvassing with a non-random sample conducted between Dec. 26, 2025, and Feb. 12, 2026. In all, 386 experts responded to at least one aspect of the canvassing; 251 provided written answers to an open-ended question 鈥� more than 160 provided detailed essay-length responses. is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the human impact of accelerating digital change and the socio-technical challenges that lie ahead. The Center was established in 2000 as Imagining the Internet and renamed with an expanded research agenda in 2024.听It is funded and operated by听, a nationally ranked private university located in Elon, North Carolina.