In the winter of 2025, a literature class at UCLA will use materials created by artificial intelligence (AI). This class will explore literature from the Middle Ages up to the 17th century. The materials for this course, including the textbook, homework assignments, and resources for teaching assistants, will be produced by a platform called Kudu. Kudu was started by Alexander Kusenko, who is a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA, and this will be the first time that a class in the humanities department at UCLA uses Kudu’s materials.
To develop these educational resources, Professor Zrinka Stahuljak, who teaches the course, shared her previous class materials with Kudu. This included her lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, and videos she had posted on YouTube. Normally, creating a course can take several months, but UCLA has stated that the time professors need to spend on this process will be limited to about 20 hours. Kudu also pays professors for the time they spend preparing these materials.
Professor Stahuljak believes that using Kudu will allow her and her teaching assistants (TAs) to spend more time helping students individually. Additionally, it will help make sure that all students receive the same high-quality information. Students will even have the option to ask Kudu questions about the course material. However, it’s important to note that Kudu will only provide answers based on the specific materials that Professor Stahuljak has provided, rather than pulling information from the entire internet. This way, students can get accurate and relevant answers related to their coursework.
