The Future Project

Teaching, Learning, and Work with Artificial Intelligence: a university-wide initiative bringing our community together to thoughtfully explore AI's role in education and Montana's workforce, keeping human values at the center

Our Vision

Launched in 2025 with support from Montana-based company Craton, The Future Project guides the University of Montana in understanding how generative AI is transforming higher education, student learning, the future of work, and Montana's broader workforce.

Unlike rapid AI adoption at other institutions, UM has chosen a deliberate path—one that prioritizes community input, preserves academic values, and ensures technology serves human flourishing rather than the other way around.

Our approach is intentionally different: We're not just implementing AI tools. We're building a framework for responsible innovation that aligns with UM's mission of whole-person education, ethical leadership, and service to community.

What the Work Has Produced

The Future Project started as a set of questions. Two years later, many of those questions have become capabilities, practices, relationships, and ongoing work.

2,000+: faculty, staff, and students took part
55+: coordinators drawn from across the institution
3: major statewide events, drawing hundreds of participants
2026: CIO 100 Award for enterprise technology leadership

Campus conversations about AI at UM began in 2023. The Future Project was organized around four questions: how UM teaches, what UM teaches, how UM works, and what industry is asking of graduates. Its coordinators came from across the institution, including law, math, philosophy, media arts, the library, student affairs, Missoula College, Accelerate Montana, and Montana Digital Academy.

The project produced UM's public AI Commitments and the case for the Institute for Human-Centered AI. In 2026, it received a CIO 100 Award, a national recognition for enterprise technology leadership.

Read the CIO 100 announcement

Four Interconnected Lines of Effort

How We Teach

Exploring faculty experiences, needs, and perspectives regarding AI in the classroom

Identifying AI tools that enhance pedagogy
Safeguarding academic integrity
Supporting faculty adaptation to new technologies
Developing best practices for AI-augmented instruction

What We Teach

Examining how students perceive and use generative AI while engaging with employers

Building AI literacy across disciplines
Developing critical thinking about AI capabilities and limitations
Creating curricula for technical AI competencies
Preserving human-centered skills like creativity and ethical reasoning

How We Work

Investigating how UM employees can use AI to enhance their work

Improving administrative efficiency
Reducing workload stress through automation
Maintaining human oversight in decision-making
Addressing risks of technological displacement

Industry Demands

Engaging directly with Montana employers to understand workforce needs

Identifying skills gaps in AI-influenced workplaces
Aligning academic programs with industry needs
Building partnerships for internships and co-ops
Supporting Montana's economic development through AI readiness

Our Phased Approach

Phase I · Spring 2025 · Completed
Exploration & Engagement
Established foundation of inquiry and collaboration across campus
- Oriented faculty and staff coordinators in February
- Conducted cross-campus conversations with 200+ participants
- Engaged industry partners across Montana
- Delivered initial findings to UM leadership in May
- Identified key opportunities and challenges for AI integration
Phase II · Summer 2025 - August · Completed
Strategy Development
Moving from exploration to intentional, coordinated approach
- Defining UM's AI Commitments and Approach
- Creating visual representation of UM's statewide AI leadership role
- Developing immediate action items for Fall implementation
- Building framework for sustainable AI governance
- Establishing partnerships with K-12 and tribal colleges
Phase III · Fall 2025 · Completed
Implementation & Community Dialogue
Broad engagement and refinement of AI strategy
- Soliciting campus-wide feedback on AI commitments
- Hosting open forums and department-specific discussions
- Refining strategies based on community input
- Launching pilot programs and early action items
- Establishing ongoing governance and assessment structures

Statewide Events and Milestones

January 2023: First AI Symposium, focused on campus-facing impacts, particularly in the classroom.
November 2025: The Board of Regents approves UM's request to plan the Institute for Human-Centered AI.
January 2026: Second AI Symposium, drawing hundreds of participants from across the state.
March 2026: The Regents adopt the OCHE AI Guidance, built from the recommendations of the MUS AI Task Force, which UM's Chief Information Officer co-chaired.
April 2026: The Future Project receives a CIO 100 Award. The Commissioner's Directive on AI is issued April 9.
September 2026: The Montana AI Summit (September 1–3) extends the work into a community-facing conversation about AI and business in Montana.

Impact for Students

UM's stance on AI is that students should know how to work with and without AI.

Every UM syllabus must now include a statement defining acceptable generative AI use in that course, under Faculty Senate Procedure 201.30.5. The Student Code of Conduct includes generative AI in its plagiarism definition. Rather than relying on AI detection software, UM's approach is disclosure, conversation with students, and redesigning how learning is assessed.

Students also gain something practical: access to leading AI models through ChatMT.ai, without handing their coursework or data to a consumer account.

AI Essentials for UM Students
A self-paced Canvas course on what AI can and cannot do, how to use it responsibly, and how to reach UM-specific tools such as ChatMT.ai and Mansfield Library resources.
Email ai-help@umontana.edu for access
Weekly AI Office Hours
A direct, ongoing line of support for faculty and students.
Email for the current schedule
Monthly Faculty AI Roundtables
Faculty working through AI questions in their teaching together.
Email to join

Impact for Montana

ChatMT.ai is available to every student, faculty, and staff member at every Montana University System campus, including the community colleges. UM built it and operates it on the system's behalf, so a campus with no IT shop of its own gets the same access as the flagship.

The Future Project's reach extends well beyond campus. TRAIL, a free hands-on workshop series run with Accelerate Montana and industry partners, carries AI competency questions to Montana businesses and communities directly rather than leaving them on campus.

Working with

Montana High Tech Business Alliance and Foundation
Montana's Chief Information Officer and Chief AI Officer
Department of Labor and Industry
Department of Commerce
Department of Indian Affairs
Accelerate Montana

System-Level Policy

UM's Chief Information Officer co-chaired the MUS AI Task Force, whose recommendations became the OCHE AI Guidance, adopted by the Regents in March 2026, and the Commissioner's Directive on AI, issued April 9, 2026. UM's Director of Academic Assessment was also a member of the Task Force and contributed to the guidance on classroom instruction.

Where the Work Stands Now

The original Future Project has developed into several connected areas of work, staffed and running now.

The Institute for Human-Centered AI

The Board of Regents approved UM's request to plan the Institute in November 2025. Its planning already names K-12 partners, tribal colleges, and statewide digital-learning initiatives. Its four goals:

Education and learning
Research and scholarship
Workforce and community partnerships
Innovation and outreach

UM AI Working Group: Michael Cassens, Amy Ratto Parks, and Zach Rossmiller. Sustains institutional dialogue on AI in teaching, learning, and research, campus risks and opportunities, and shared decision-making, and advises development of the Institute.
Teaching, Learning and Research Team · Employees and AI Team: Carry the Future Project's original lines of effort forward as visible hubs for AI-related events, resources, and problem-solving.
Vibe Friday Sessions: Hands-on AI working sessions with individual departments, brainstorming where AI could help in their area of work and trying those ideas out together.
AI Insights: Regular updates in the Academic Affairs Newsletter.

Why This Matters

Strategic Significance for UM and Montana

For Our Students: Ensures academic programs evolve to prepare graduates with both AI competencies and essential human skills—critical thinking, adaptability, ethical reasoning—that employers increasingly demand.
For Our Faculty: Provides support in adapting teaching practices, identifying effective AI tools, and maintaining academic integrity while preserving the human dimensions of education.
For Our Staff: Explores ways to use AI to improve workflows and reduce administrative burden.
For Montana: Strengthens UM's role as a convener of statewide collaboration, creating a coordinated AI strategy that serves Montana's educational and economic needs.

Aligning Innovation with Mission

The Future Project represents more than technological adaptation—it's about ensuring that UM's response to AI aligns with our core mission of whole-person education, ethical leadership, and service to community. We're building a future where technology amplifies human potential rather than replacing it.

Questions About The Future Project?

Connect with the project team to learn more or get involved.

Contact Project Team View AI Commitments