A collaboration of instructors and professors from the Air Force Institute of Technology created the “AFIT Generative AI Teaching Guidebook” for educators and institutions interested in integrating AI into technical or non-technical fields of study.  The guidebook provides educators with the capabilities and best practices for integrating Gen AI into curriculum and addresses the benefits and successes that can result from utilizing Gen AI correctly (Image courtesy of Adobe Stock).

As the popularity of artificial intelligence continues to increase, to assist Department of Defense educators with adapting Generative AI into technical or non-technical fields of study, a collaboration of instructors and professors from the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management and School of Systems and Logistics created the “AFIT Generative AI Teaching Guidebook.”

The guidebook provides educators with the capabilities and best practices for integrating Gen AI into curriculum, and also addresses the benefits and successes that can result from utilizing Gen AI correctly. 

According to the Guidebook, incorporating Gen AI into DoD curriculum allows educators to prepare students for the “technology-driven future of defense” and the “fast-paced, high stakes environments” that students will be working in by creating curriculum that “mirrors the decision-making and analytical demands of the DoD.”

While traditional AI analyzes or predicts data, Gen AI can create or generate new content from current data and assist with reducing lesson planning preparation, encouraging active learning, and reversing engineer courses from learning objectives and current curriculum.  Although these benefits are extremely valuable, adapting Gen AI into DoD curriculum can pose not only many ethical, privacy and military concerns, but it can also contribute to reduced attention spans and decreased desires to learn.

(Image courtesy of Shutterstock)

Educators interested in incorporating Gen AI into curriculum, but are hesitant because of the various issues associated with AI are advised to have conversations early on in order to “set standards and expectations, and focus on where responsibilities ultimately lie; with the human,” said Maj. Bateman, assistant professor of systems engineering, and program chair, systems engineering program, AFIT GSEM Department of Systems Engineering and Management.

“The biggest thing I tell individuals regarding AI tools is ‘don’t trust, verify.’  In general, emphasizing that it is the human’s responsibility when using AI tools is crucial.  It takes time and attention to think critically about what the model is producing, and educators should make sure their students are ready for that responsibility.

For example, if one of my students uses the tool and submits something erroneous, or doesn’t meet the assignment, then I failed the student, not the AI model they used,” said Bateman.

Although the guidebook focuses on incorporating Gen AI into educational environments, many organizations throughout the DoD workforce are currently integrating Gen AI, specifically Large Language Models, or LLMs that can assist with workflow efficiency and simplifying tasks.

“As we saw in the Wright-Patterson Data Analytics and AI Forum, units across the Department of the Air Force are already moving out on integration of AI, specifically LLMs for enhancing unit effectiveness.

Most of the work we do involves human language, either written or spoken and LLMs are constantly becoming more capable, especially in terms of ingesting and making sense of content than executing tasks.

In the near term, tasks that involve large amounts of information or information that is spread across multiple sources are great candidates for Gen AI integration, such as workflows. 

These workflows could be set up to bring together large amounts of written content and with the help of an LLM, information is more accessible and easily understood, versus the current way of opening multiple PDFs and using the find function multiple times,” said Bateman.

Since being released to the public in January 2025 on AFIT Scholar, the guidebook has been downloaded more than 1,000 times.  The content has also been presented at local, national and international venues, such as LEDx Praxeum, and Frontiers of Integrity. 

Most recently, the AFIT AI Technology Research & Education Consortium (AI TREC) in conjunction with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) hosted a Data Analytics and AI Forum for the local DoD military, civilian, and contractor community at Wright-Patterson AFB.  The event had more than 500 registered participants and featured insights from senior leaders, presentations, poster and breakout sessions.

For non-DoD educators and institutions interested in incorporating Gen AI into their curriculum, AFIT Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Heidi Ries remarked that, “several of her colleagues at other universities complimented the useful examples and helpful descriptions in the guidebook and shared it with others as a valuable teaching resource.”

To download AFIT’s Generative AI Guidebook, please visit: https://scholar.afit.edu/docs/140/

AFIT is located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.  AFIT’s mission is to educate defense professionals and conduct research across all frontiers of innovation; this includes pushing the boundaries of AI capabilities across the DoD and beyond.

Visit the AI TREC page to learn more about the cutting-edge education and research opportunities in AI that AFIT provides and an overview of AFIT’s key partnerships with leading organizations in the AI field: https://www.afit.edu/AITREC/