Artificial intelligence has officially become a requirement, not just an option, at Ohio State University. Starting in Fall 2025, every new Buckeye will encounter AI in their first semester seminar, in workshops that mark the transition into college, and eventually inside courses across their major.
By the time the Class of 2029 graduates, OSU expects all of them to be “AI fluent,” not just passingly familiar, but genuinely capable of using AI responsibly within their chosen discipline.
The university isn’t treating AI as a quirky tech elective. Instead, it is reframing it as part of the core skill set every graduate should carry, no different than writing proficiency or quantitative reasoning.
Let’s walk through what the policy looks like, what students will actually do, and how it could reshape both teaching and job preparation for the next generation of Ohio State alumni.
Key Points
- Starting Fall 2025, every Ohio State undergrad must complete AI training woven into seminars, workshops, and major-specific courses.
- The university’s goal is “AI fluency,” covering foundations, ethics, hands-on practice, and applications in each discipline.
- Faculty will embed AI into curricula with clear rules: when it’s permitted, when it requires verification, and when it’s banned.
- By graduation, Buckeyes are expected to leave with AI portfolios, ethical awareness, and field-specific skills employers can trust.
Why AI Is Now Required at Ohio State
Ohio State’s leadership has been blunt: nearly every job that today’s undergraduates will hold will be influenced in some way by AI. From business forecasting to health research, AI tools are creeping into the workflow.
The risk, in the university’s words, is producing graduates who are fluent in their field but not in the ways AI alters that field.
That’s why the stated target is to produce “bilingual” graduates, fluent in disciplinary knowledge and fluent in AI.
There’s also a broader Ohio context. A recent state budget requires every public K-12 district to adopt an AI policy by mid-2026.
While that mandate doesn’t directly govern higher education, it signals a shift in expectations across the education pipeline. Ohio State, as the flagship public institution, is leaning in early.
What “AI Fluency” Means at OSU
AI fluency isn’t just about knowing how ChatGPT works. Ohio State defines it across four main buckets:
- Foundations and vocabulary: Students learn what generative AI is good at, where it fails, how it’s trained, and why bias matters.
- Hands-on practice: They try prompting, iteration, tool selection, and output verification in structured workshops.
- Ethics and integrity: OSU trains both students and faculty on when AI is allowed, how to cite it, and how to preserve originality.
- Domain application: Each college will embed AI within major-specific contexts: labs, clinics, studios, and capstones.
The Baseline Everyone Gets
Before majors and electives come into play, Ohio State has set a shared foundation. Every student starts with the same baseline AI training.
General Education Launch Seminar
Every undergraduate completes a one-credit Launch Seminar as part of the GE system. Beginning in Fall 2025, it includes an introduction to generative AI, with emphasis on responsible use and basic capabilities.
Every student starts with the same baseline AI training, learning responsible use and basic tools like Smodin that help showcase both strengths and limits of generative models.
First Year Success Series
These workshops are a hallmark of Ohio State’s first-year experience. Now they’ll include AI-focused sessions where students practice simple prompts, evaluate outputs, and discuss when not to use AI.
ENGR 2194
This 3-credit elective is open to all majors, designed for beginners. It covers prompt craft, model limitations, and use cases across fields. It’s optional, but heavily encouraged.
How AI Appears Inside Majors
The baseline is universal, but the real impact comes once AI moves into disciplinary work. Each college is tasked during the 2025–26 academic year with mapping AI fluency outcomes into their curriculum.
Faculty will decide whether to dedicate a required course, scatter modules across existing classes, or stage experiential add-ons like hackathons.
Example Use Cases by Major
| Discipline | Likely AI Applications |
| Business & Analytics | Market research summaries, scenario modeling, assisted data analysis |
| Engineering | Prototyping code, drafting simulation setups, technical documentation |
| Life Sciences | Triage of research articles, brainstorming study design, methods comparison |
| Arts & Design | Concept iteration, style-transfer exercises, fair-use discussions |
The point is not to replace original work but to show how AI fits within authentic disciplinary practices.
A First-Year Student’s Timeline
A practical look at what life will feel like for a freshman starting in Autumn 2025:
Autumn 2025
- Take the Launch Seminar with AI components.
- Attend AI workshops in the First Year Success Series.
Spring 2026
- Optionally enroll in Unlocking Generative AI.
- Participate in an AI hackathon or innovation workshop.
Sophomore Year Onward
- Encounter AI-related assignments within major-level courses.
- Access faculty-supported AI resources and toolkits online.
By graduation, AI is not just a side skill. It is threaded throughout the college experience.
How Large the Change Really Is
Ohio State enrolls more than 45,000 undergraduates. That scale makes this initiative one of the largest AI education pushes at any U.S. university.
Local media such as Axios Columbus and WOSU have highlighted both the ambition and the caution, noting that faculty are hopeful about gains in creativity but wary of overreliance.
CBS News filmed on campus in September 2025, capturing first-year students experimenting with AI in workshops.
Professors interviewed emphasized that the goal is not to replace critical thinking, but to help students learn how to use AI effectively, with citation, verification, and judgment.
What Will Count as Acceptable AI Use
OSU is not prescribing one tool or blanket rules. Instead, it is arming faculty with model syllabus language so each course can set its own guardrails.
Permitted with citation
Brainstorming an outline, drafting a cover letter, summarizing long readings, or generating test cases for code, as long as the use is documented with prompts, model name, and kept vs. changed content.
Permitted with verification steps
Proposing statistical approaches, drafting data cleaning scripts, or outlining design options, followed by manual checks.
Not permitted
Using AI to complete exams, write literature reviews without reading, or fabricate references. Those are flagged as violations of academic integrity.
Faculty Support and Infrastructure
Behind the scenes, OSU’s Office of Academic Affairs is building out significant faculty resources:
- Policy templates for syllabi
- Workshops on AI-aware assignment design
- Micro-trainings on prompts, verification, and grading
- Centralized AI information portals
- Noncredit learning pathways to extend training beyond campus
The model is to empower instructors, not just mandate change from above.
What Employers Can Expect from AI-Fluent Buckeyes
If Ohio State delivers, future graduates should arrive in the workforce with:
- Documented AI use – portfolios that show prompts, tools, and verification steps.
- Judgment – knowing when not to use AI.
- Domain-specific skills – from AI-assisted finance analysis to AI-supported lesson planning.
- Ethical awareness – comfort with privacy, bias, and compliance standards.
For industries already drafting AI usage policies, that alignment matters. Graduates will not just know how to run prompts but how to fit AI into regulated, team-based, and professional settings.
How OSU’s Approach Compares Nationally
Many universities have added AI electives or issued guidance about classroom use. Ohio State is different in scope: it is embedding AI into both general education and major-level coursework for every student, not just those who self-select into computer science or data science paths.
That distinction is why the initiative has attracted national media coverage.
Risks and Safeguards Acknowledged by OSU
Ohio State has not been starry-eyed about AI. Across its resources and public interviews, three themes keep surfacing:
- Guardrails, not bans: Faculty decide assignment-level rules with OSU’s model policy language.
- Bias, privacy, and provenance: Workshops and faculty training include explicit content on checking outputs and guarding against bias.
- Critical thinking first: AI should aid brainstorming or organization but not replace analysis. Faculty have repeated this in media interviews.
What to Watch Through 2026
Several moving parts will shape how the initiative unfolds:
- College-specific plans: Each academic unit will publish its map for embedding AI by late 2026.
- Workshops and events: Hackathons and innovation challenges are expected to expand.
- Assessment rubrics: Faculty tools suggest rubrics requiring disclosure of AI use.
- Policy alignment: As K–12 districts adopt AI policies by 2026, OSU may deepen its partnerships to create a continuous pipeline of AI-literate students.
The Bottom Line
Ohio State University is making AI literacy a graduation requirement for all undergraduates. Starting with the Class of 2029, every Buckeye will graduate fluent in both their chosen field and the responsible use of AI within it.
The initiative begins immediately in general education, expands into major-level coursework, and scales across one of the largest undergraduate populations in the country.
The goal is clear: prepare students not only to handle AI tools but to handle them wisely. Employers should expect Ohio State graduates to arrive with AI experience that is practical, disciplined, and transparent.
In other words, the AI revolution is no longer optional at Ohio State. It is part of what it means to be a Buckeye.
