GPT proficiency is the new literacy. More and more specialists today turn to neural networks when they need to write a text, make a presentation, collect data, or even solve a creative task. Furthermore, AI tools are already being used in education: in 2023, the Vladimir Potanin Foundation allowed contestants to use AI technology for writing grant proposals and reports. 

ITMO's Center for Science Communication has been working with the Vladimir Potanin Foundation since 2020. Together, they developed continuous professional development programs for the foundation’s graduates on creative communication strategies meant to help promote their projects. In the fall of 2024, the foundation approached the center with an idea for a course that would let grantees enhance their AI skills and help them find the right tools for project implementation activities. Thus, the course AI Tools for Specific Purposes: Navigating Opportunities was born. 

“AI skills are no longer about the future – they are here now. The Vladimir Potanin Foundation strives to help grantees, lecturers, museum employees, and nonprofit experts master AI tools and transform them into trusted assistants for their needs. The developed course not only educates its students about the technology; it also teaches them to ethically and responsibly use AI to develop projects, boost their personal efficiency, and achieve their most ambitious goals,” say the specialists from the Vladimir Potanin Foundation explain. 

Since October, the center has run the course three times for 150 grantees. It brought together specialists from 65 Russian cities and hundreds of organizations, including universities, museums, libraries, public organizations, and cultural centers. The next launch is slated for April 14.

Over the course of a month, students became acquainted with AI tools and GPT-based services, worked in small teams, and shared their findings and research made with AI with their teammates. Every step of the way,  the program's mentors guided the students and assisted them in integrating the technology in their workplace and overcoming the associated anxiety and fears.

Students in the course also learned to employ neural networks to tackle creative and routine tasks, analyzed how the technologies can make their work more efficient, and looked carefully at the educational and ethical aspects of using AI. 

Find out how the course has changed students' lives and work habits below.

A trial by mythology

Among the students was Elena Spiridonova, an archaeologist and an associate professor at the Yaroslavl State University.

“I believed it [the course] would be useful for me, as I had never used AI before. Some software, such as the one for image processing, stuck with me even after the course. I am an archaeologist, and I have to deal with a lot of similar photos. I used to do it manually, but now I can get it done in just one click,” she shares. 

Elena was also curious to learn how much image generators knew about mythological creatures and folklore in general: 

“I now know that AI works best with Greek and medieval European mythology, but not with Russian folklore. It could barely draw a Domovoy (a household spirit in Slavic mythology – Ed.), and Baba Yaga’s mortar turned into a Buddhist temple under its brush. Besides, neural networks are also not very good at Japanese mythology: they rightly portrayed the Kitsune as a fox, although with one tail or with many paws,” she says. 

This experiment comes in handy for Elena’s mythology course. In her lectures, Elena shows AI-generated drawings to her students and asks them to guess which character the neural network was attempting to depict. Though it may appear to be rather amusing, the experiment in fact raises a pressing ethical question: how complete is the dataset used to train generative neural networks and are developers missing out on significant cultural knowledge? 

AI + experts

“Even before the course, I’d have considered myself quite an adept user of neural networks in my work and everyday life. Here, however, I was able to see these tools not as separate entities, but as an ecosystem, and learn to work with it,” shares Olga Shelyugina, an associate professor at the Department of Culture Studies and Design of the Altai State University.

Apart from this systematic “bird’s eye” view of the subject, Olga gained some practical tools: she now uses dedicated services like Semantic Scholar and Recraft more often. She particularly valued one specific home assignment, which was to create a plan for implementing AI tools into her professional tasks. Another valuable outcome was the opportunity to interact with other course participants to learn about new AI tools and gain new perspectives on both research and teaching.

“I used to think that neural networks have become quite advanced and we could give them almost any task. Now I believe that we should focus on something different: the best results can be achieved by combining the skills of a highly qualified specialist with the capacity of a powerful ML model. This is the way to true synergy,” adds Ms. Shelyugina.

An opportunity to stay in-demand

By the end of the course Olga Frolova, the head of the Museum of Nevyansk Traditions (Podvintsev Estate), did not only gain a firm grasp of the mechanics of neural networks, but started to use them in her work – with great success. Using GPT services, she wrote her application for a grant by the Potanin Foundation… and won!

“I explained the grant contest’s principles, added a description of my idea, and asked the neural network to rewrite it according to the contest’s requirements. After that, I expanded the text, clarified some details – and that was that. It’s a wonderful tool. It helps you polish your thoughts and turn vague ideas into detailed projects,” shares Olga.

She also helped several colleagues with writing similar applications or using Recraft to generate presentation visuals. Moreover, the course helped Olga catch up with the latest trends in the field: “I am 55, and now I am confident that I am in tune with the times. Neural networks are inspiring; they help me feel like I am equipped with the relevant tools – and that I can grow further.”

Overall, course participants agree: generative AI isn’t a threat. Rather, it’s a new resource that helps to not only automate some tasks, but also see your field in a new light, find room for growth, and share this experience with others.

According to Daria Denisova, the head of the program and ITMO’s Center for Science Communication, it’s important to create an environment where the participants can feel confident and supported in their experiments: 

“We always have our students’ back. We know that it can be hard to start using something new and trendy, that it can cause frustration. In different cohorts, we notice how differently (but always productively!) our participants react to the lectures by Alexander Boukhanovsky, Andrey Sebrant (Yandex’s director for marketing), Vladimir Opredelenov (ex-director for digital development at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), and other visionaries.

Our goal is to help them take their first steps and, with the help of specific examples, develop what Prof. Boukhanovsky calls 'AI soft skills' in regard to designing learning experiences, communication, or professional routine. I am particularly pleased to see our participants showing interest in potential educational opportunities and partnerships with ITMO.”