Foundations of AI

1 Credit · Level: Undergraduate

This one-credit elective is designed to cultivate essential AI fluency and critical literacy, supporting both graduate and undergraduate students in thoughtfully integrating generative AI into their university experience. The course develops AI literacy through technical proficiency and fosters AI fluency as a component of modern academic life and responsible digital citizenship at Georgetown. The course is structured across two complementary layers totaling approximately 12.5 contact hours. Students complete the Applied AI Microcredential (approximately 7 hours, asynchronous), which establishes a shared conceptual foundation. They also attend five synchronous sessions (approximately one hour each), offered both in person and online, organized around three thematic areas: the technical layer, the ethical and social layer, and applied practice and judgment. Activities focus on practical educational applications, such as leveraging AI for research ideation, study techniques, and academic writing, while also examining the ethical, privacy, and contextual limitations of these tools. Foundations of AI sets the curricular foundation for more advanced AI courses at Georgetown, whether approached from a critical, technical, or applied perspective.