WINSTON-SALEM (January 22, 2026) – We’re all adapting to the world of artificial intelligence. Some folks thrive with it. Others struggle to trust it.

But one thing’s for sure: It’s not going away.

With that new reality, leaders at Forsyth Technical Community College have worked to incorporate AI into every program for the college’s 9,700 students – and they’ve put a lot of thought into it.

“I truly have a love-hate relationship with AI,” Forsyth Tech President Dr. Janet Spriggs says in an accompanying video.

Spriggs praises AI’s ability to help with mundane tasks. But she says it must be used ethically.

The vast majority of students have already used AI, she says. And many instructors were initially suspicious that reliance on AI could diminish critical thinking among students.

Spriggs compares AI to the introduction of calculators, when many teachers were reluctant to let students use calculators in class or on exams. She says instructors are resolved to reinforce that students think for themselves.

“We also have this amazing technology at our fingertips. So let’s use it, and let’s use it the right way,” she says.

THERE’S A SPECTRUM, of course, of people who embrace AI and those who are skeptical.

Forsyth Tech instructor Nancy Miller wasn’t sure at first how much to trust it.

“I have grown to trust it much more,” she says, and she has since presented AI workshops across the country.

Miller says it’s become a personal relationship, and sometimes she even asks AI for creative help in her own kitchen.

“If I need to figure out what to have for dinner, I take a picture of the refrigerator and, ‘Here it is – give it to me. That’s all I’ve got. And I need it done in an hour, OK?’” she says.

But she also cautions that it often takes more than one try.

“We now have a very good relationship,” she says. “I get a lot of things, first time out, wrong. And I just remind her, ‘We’re in this together. This is a relationship. Let’s give it another shot.’ Then the second time around … it usually comes back much better, much more detailed and concise.”

“It’s today’s workforce – no longer tomorrow’s workforce,” she says. “It’s today’s workforce. And I’ve got to present it and provide these students the best possible opportunity to get that job.”

FORSYTH TECH student Hunter Shelby has a similar view.

“Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But is it useful? Yes, absolutely,” Shelby says.

It often takes more than one prompt, he says, but “it works really well most of the time.”

SPRIGGS SAYS the school’s English instructors were initially the most skeptical – they were worried about plagiarism, of course.

But instead of making a hard and fast rule banning AI that would likely be broken, she says, “I was so proud of our English faculty, because what they decided to do was to teach students how to use the tool, while still teaching students the basics that they were teaching in the English class and how to continue to be critical thinkers.”

“They used AI to help enhance what the students were doing, not to replace it.”

CLASSROOMS AREN’T the only place where Forsyth Tech has put AI to work.

Just a few months after the release of ChatGPT, Forsyth Tech placed a chatbot on its website to answer students’ questions. Of nearly 31,000 inquiries since 2023, roughly one-third came outside normal business hours, says administrator Devin Purgason.

The chatbot can answer mundane questions such as whether the snack bar is open, Purgason says, and 87% of inquiries have been handled without human intervention. More difficult questions are referred to the college’s student-care representatives.

The result?

The chatbot has saved Forsyth Tech and its counselors 309,000 human minutes, Purgason says – the equivalent of flying from New York to Tokyo 500 times. And counselors have more time to answer complex questions about, say, financial aid.

“They are able to help our students in a much more holistic way,” he says.

“Our student-care representatives have the time to have a deep dive with that student,” he says. “The AI has helped us be more hands-on in a human-centered way. So both tools have to work together for this to coexist well.”

It appears Forsyth Tech is figuring out how to make it work.