New AI rules for Hebrew University data science

Students in the Data Science Department at the Hebrew University Business School face new requirements for using artificial intelligence in their coursework. Since July 2024, Associate Professor Claudia V. Goldman has integrated AI into the curriculum with specific protocols that mandate transparency.

Goldman, who was born in Argentina and moved to Israel in 1984, tells students exactly when and why they may use AI tools. She requires them to credit the technology and explain the specific ways they utilized it. Fully AI-generated answers are not accepted, and she states that students are aware she can detect machine-generated text in their writing.

Instead of banning the technology, she encourages students to brainstorm with AI while maintaining a critical stance. This involves checking whether information is biased and verifying if cited sources actually exist. She evaluates understanding through in-person assessments, including classwork, presentations, and peer-organized activities, rather than relying solely on written submissions.

The curriculum also addresses human responsibility and professional values. The Business School offers courses such as AI for Social Good, Responsible AI, and When AI Meets Humans and Society. Goldman noted that the university runs a Free Listener Program allowing senior citizens to audit courses, a program that is active as the fall semester begins.

In response to Bill Gates's concept of reserving certain jobs for humans, Goldman argued that the issue is not a simple binary choice. She said the focus should be on understanding the benefits AI brings in different roles and the critical skills needed to strengthen them. Her goal is to use artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems.

Goldman holds 24 patents and has published more than 50 academic papers. Before joining the Hebrew University, she worked as a research scientist for 15 years in General Motors' research and development organization in Herzliya. There, she worked on introducing learning agents into the vehicle user experience to help drivers focus on the road and understand autonomous functions.

Her earlier career included research posts at Bar-Ilan University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Haifa between 1999 and 2005. She also served as a team leader at Samsung Telecom Research in Herzliya for three years. She earned her PhD in computer science from the Hebrew University in 1999, with Prof. Jeff Rosenschein as her doctoral supervisor.

Goldman met her husband, Prof. Roy Shenhar of the Hebrew University Institute of Chemistry, on the stairs of the Ross Building in 1995. They married in 1999. She has one child and attended a Jewish school in Buenos Aires where she studied in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish.