"A senior Texas A&M University System official testing a new artificial intelligence tool this fall asked it to find how many courses discuss feminism at one of its regional universities. Each time she asked in a slightly different way, she got a different number. "Either the tool is learning from my previous queries," Texas A&M system's chief strategy officer Korry Castillo told colleagues in an email, "or we need to fine tune our requests to get the best results.""
"It was Sept. 25, and Castillo was trying to deliver on a promise Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the Board of Regents had already made: to audit courses across all of the system's 12 universities after conservative outrage over a gender-identity lesson at the flagship campus intensified earlier that month, leading to the professor's firing and the university president's resignation."
"At Texas A&M, internal emails show staff are using AI software to search syllabi and course descriptions for words that could raise concerns under new system policies restricting how faculty teach about race and gender."
University system officials used artificial intelligence tools to scan course catalogs and syllabi for content related to feminism, race, and gender. The AI returned inconsistent results when queried about how many courses discussed feminism. The audit mandate followed conservative outrage over a gender-identity lesson that culminated in a professor's firing and the university president's resignation. Administrators framed audits as a way to verify course descriptions matched content. Staff are using AI to search for words that could trigger concerns under new policies limiting how faculty teach about race and gender. Other public universities also announced audits and prepared to comply with expanded regent authority.
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