Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts will lead a national study of how higher education is integrating artificial intelligence into arts education, supported by a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab Grant. The initiative will develop benchmarks to help institutions make informed decisions about AI in creative training, rather than continuing to figure it out independently.
The project examines how colleges and universities are responding to AI in the arts, identifies emerging opportunities and challenges, and establishes data points that can inform policy and practice across the country. It builds on existing work at CMU aimed at bringing creative practice into the university's broader AI research efforts.
Principal investigator Daragh Byrne, a professor of architecture, said the arts must help lead the national conversation about AI. "The arts are uniquely positioned to respond to AI in ways that are essential to continued innovation. But as AI reshapes creative practice, the arts have to help lead the national conversation - not follow it," he said.
Partners and scope
Project partners include Creative Generation, the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru), and Pennsylvania State University's Art and Design Research Incubator. At CMU's Heinz College, the grant will support the Arts Management and Technology Laboratory.
Brett Ashley Crawford is teaching professor and executive director of the AMT Lab. She said the grant lets CMU coordinate a national effort on AI literacy within the arts. "It will aid the AMT Lab in its efforts to amplify arts advocacy, policy and education," she said.
Deanst of the College of Fine Arts, Mary Ellen Poole said the award reflects sustained work at the college on creative practice and AI. The selective nature of the NEA Research Lab grant gives CMU a center of excellence at the intersection of creative practice and AI research, according to Byrne.
What the benchmarks will measure
Researchers will track how institutions across the country are responding to AI in the arts, including what it means for students to work creatively and ethically with AI. Byrne says this is a broad coordination effort, rather than a loose collection of resources: "This benchmarking initiative will track how institutions across the country are responding to AI in the arts, giving us the data to shape smarter policy and practice on campuses nationwide."
The project's scope extends beyond the classroom and into the pipeline - where new artists are recruited, trained, and credentialed. That's why the benchmarking team is looking at high schools, professional training, and universities simultaneously, Crawford says.
Why this matters for educators
For educators, the immediate value is concrete: they could soon have actual data on what works in AI and arts education instead of institutional impressions or one-off experiments. The goal is a public, central reference - or as the project's outreach site calls it, an arts and AI observatory - that can help teachers across the US design stronger curricula for creative programs.
That alignment extends beyond arts departments. Byrne pointed to the collaboration with contemporary, AI-adjacent disciplines at CMU - connecting the project to undergraduate programs, graduate research, and cross-functional initiatives. For professors and academic administrators under pressure to act quickly on AI, the benchmarks offer a route to evidence-based policy rather than ad-hoc decisions.
The findings could also shift how faculty and institutions evaluate what is "possible" for AI in the arts. "Right now, every school is figuring this out alone," Byrne said. "The arts need a clear, coordinated voice - and that's what we're building."
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