Taylor wrestles with AI – The Echo
Taylor wrestles with AI – The Echo
https://www.theechonews.com/article/2026/03/taylor-wrestles-with-ai
Publish Date: 2026-03-16 00:03:00
Source Domain: www.theechonews.com
Taylor University is updating its artificial intelligence (AI) policy, introducing a new academic AI for faculty and receiving a grant to fund research into the impact of AI.
These changes are being made by the AI Steering Committee, a group of faculty and staff who gather to think about AI, Chris Jones, university vice president and member of the committee, said.
The AI Steering Committee has drafted an AI Governance Policy for Taylor. While not finalized, the draft seeks to clarify principles, expectations and boundaries for future policies and decisions Taylor may make surrounding AI, Jones said.
Jones emphasized the need for Taylor’s AI policy to reflect the university’s mission.
“We are not approaching AI simply as a technology to adopt or avoid,” Jones said. “Instead, we are asking how tools like these intersect with Christian formation, academic integrity, human dignity and the kind of community we are called to cultivate. That framing has guided this work from the start.”
In service of that end, Taylor is seeking a grant from the Lilly Endowment’s Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education Initiative (AIHE).
The AIHE grant is a Lilly Endowment project to help Indiana universities address the rapidly changing AI landscape, according to a Lilly Endowment press release.
“The aim of the initiative is two-fold:” the press release said. “To help Indiana colleges and universities 1) consider more fully the challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence (AI) presents for their institutions and their students, and 2) develop new or enhance existing strategies and programs to improve their students’ education opportunities and outcomes and their preparation to prosper in the workplace and life in a future that will be increasingly shaped by AI.”
Taylor received a planning grant in December and is using that money to work with…
