Academics
AI in the Curriculum
Emerson faculty are integrating AI into teaching and creative practice across disciplines. From filmmaking to publishing, our courses prepare students to work with these tools critically and professionally. Below are some of the courses currently incorporating AI in significant ways.
School of Film, Television, and Media Arts
AI in Filmmaking (VM 331)
Instructor: Stuart Acher (Emerson Los Angeles)
This pilot course guides students from creative theory through technical fluency to full cinematic execution using generative AI tools. Students experiment with image generation, motion, performance transfer, voice synthesis, and complete short film production using AI. Offered at ELA, now in its second semester.
AI in Filmmaking (VM 331)
Instructor: Daniel Pillis (Boston)
The Boston section of the AI Filmmaking pilot explores generative AI video, audio, and image tools for cinematic storytelling. Students work with tools including Google VEO, OpenArt, Adobe Firefly, and others to produce original AI-assisted short films.
Writing, Literature & Publishing
Sustainable Publishing with AI (PB 491)
Instructor: Sarah Cole
A hands-on studio course and research lab interrogating the use of artificial intelligence as a collaborative tool in book publishing. Using the UN Sustainability Development Goals as a framework, students experiment with AI tools and prompting techniques to evaluate responsible integration into the end-to-end publishing process — balancing innovation with climate, equity, decent work, and transparent production. Students develop an individual AI policy, create an AI disclosure statement, and publish industry-facing recommendations for human-in-the-loop workflows.
The Algorithm and the Author: Literature, AI, and the Ethics of Creativity (LI 204)
Instructor: Pelin Kivrak
An exploration of how contemporary debates about AI are reshaping literature, writing, translation, and publishing across global contexts. Through literary and nonfiction texts, students analyze how authorship, creativity, labor, and cultural representation are transformed in an age of algorithmic writing. The course emphasizes critical reading, analytical writing, and ethical reflection on AI’s impact on creative fields.
Fictions of Intelligence: The Work of Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (LI 423)
Instructor: Roy Kamada
A seminar exploring how literature imagines, critiques, and humanizes artificial intelligence across two centuries of technological and cultural change. From Frankenstein to contemporary speculative fiction, students trace how narratives about artificial life illuminate enduring questions about creation, language, labor, and power — and how “the human” and “the machine” are entangled with histories of control and being. The course culminates in a research project integrating literary analysis, critical theory, and ethical reflection on intelligent systems.
Many additional Emerson courses incorporate AI tools and discussions into their curricula in ways that may not be reflected in their titles. Faculty across all schools are encouraged to engage with AI in discipline-appropriate ways. If you are a faculty member incorporating AI into your course and would like to be featured here, contact ai@emerson.edu.
Faculty Classroom Resources
Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom
Faculty guidance on the AI Assessment Scale, syllabus policies, and managing AI in coursework.
Emerson College Library: AI Literacy Guide
Research resources, critical evaluation frameworks, and AI literacy tools.