AI in Academia: New Protocols at Hebrew University

Prof. Claudia V. Goldman holds 24 patents, a metric she leverages to ground her recent changes to the data science curriculum at the Hebrew University Business School in Jerusalem. Since joining the faculty in July 2024, the associate professor has implemented specific rules for how students may utilize artificial intelligence tools in their academic work.

Goldman, who was born in Argentina and moved to Israel in January 1984, has spent decades bridging academic research and industrial application. She earned her doctorate in computer science from the Hebrew University in 1999, following a BSc and MSc from the same institution. Her career path included research roles at Bar-Ilan University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Haifa before she moved into the private sector.

In the industry, she served as a team leader at Samsung Telecom Research in Herzliya for three years and later spent 15 years as a research scientist at General Motors. At General Motors, her work focused on learning agents for vehicle user experiences, aiming to help drivers understand autonomous functions while remaining focused on the road. She has published more than 50 academic papers and continues to teach at the Business School, where she integrates her technical background into her pedagogy.

In a recent interview, Goldman detailed her approach to AI in the classroom. She informs students explicitly when and why they may use AI tools, requiring them to credit the technology and explain their usage process. She does not accept answers that are entirely generated by AI, noting that students are aware of her ability to detect machine-written text. Instead, she encourages students to use AI for brainstorming while maintaining critical oversight, such as verifying the existence of cited sources and checking for bias in the information provided.

To assess student understanding, Goldman relies on a combination of classwork, presentations, and peer-led activities. This method allows her to evaluate knowledge in person rather than relying solely on written submissions. The coursework also includes discussions on human responsibility, values, and the professional standards expected of researchers in the field. The Business School offers related courses, including AI for Social Good, Responsible AI, and When AI Meets Humans and Society.

Goldman commented on Bill Gates’s suggestion of a 'Human Reserved' concept, which proposes setting aside certain jobs for people. She argued that the issue is not a simple binary choice between human and machine roles. Rather, it involves understanding the specific benefits AI offers in various contexts and identifying the critical skills needed to enhance human performance in those areas.

Her personal history also informs her presence in Jerusalem. Her grandparents immigrated to Argentina before the Holocaust, and her parents were born there. After attending a Jewish school in Buenos Aires and studying Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish, she expressed a desire to live in Israel. Her family made aliyah six months after her statement in 1983. She met her husband, Prof. Roy Shenhar, a full professor at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Chemistry, on the campus stairs in 1995. They married in 1999.