The Winter 2025 UCLA Comparative Literature class will include AI-generated textbooks, homework, and TA resources.
The class in question is a survey of literature from the Middle Ages to the 17th century, and the material was created on Kudu, an evolved textbook platform founded by Alexander Kusenko, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA. The university says this will be the first class in the humanities department to use materials developed by Kudu.
To create these materials, Professor Zrinka Stahuljak provided Kudu with notes, PowerPoint presentations, and YouTube videos from previous versions of the class. The course creation process can take three to four months, but UCLA says professors’ time commitments should be limited to 20 hours (and Kudu compensates them for their time).
Stahuljak said this approach will free up time for him and his teaching assistants to work more closely with students and deliver course material more consistently. Students can also ask Kudu questions about the material, and the answers will come only from the material provided by the professor, not from the entire Internet.
