Hebrew University Professor Enforces Strict AI Protocols in Data Science Courses

Prof. Claudia V. Goldman has introduced a rigorous framework for artificial intelligence usage in the Data Science Department at the Hebrew University Business School in Jerusalem. Since joining the faculty in July 2024, the associate professor has established specific rules for how students interact with AI tools during coursework. Her approach aims to integrate the technology into problem-solving while ensuring students retain their own analytical capabilities.

Goldman, who was born in Argentina and moved to Israel in 1984, holds 24 patents and has published more than 50 academic papers. Her career includes research roles at Bar-Ilan University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Haifa. She also spent three years as a team leader at Samsung Telecom Research and 15 years as a research scientist at General Motors in Herzliya. At General Motors, her work focused on introducing learning agents into vehicle user experiences to help drivers understand autonomous driving functions.

In her current classes, Goldman explicitly tells students when and why they may use AI. She requires them to credit the technology and explain their specific usage. Fully AI-generated answers are rejected, and students are aware that she can detect AI-generated text in their writing. Instead of banning the tools, she encourages students to brainstorm with AI while maintaining a critical perspective. This involves checking for bias in the information and verifying that cited sources actually exist.

The professor assesses student understanding through a combination of in-person classwork, presentations, and peer-organized activities. These methods allow her to evaluate comprehension directly. The curriculum also includes discussions on human responsibility, values, and the type of professional a student aims to become. The Business School currently offers related courses such as AI for Social Good, Responsible AI, and When AI Meets Humans and Society.

Regarding Bill Gates’s concept of reserving certain jobs for humans, Goldman argues the issue is not a simple binary choice. She views it as a matter of understanding the benefits AI brings to different roles and identifying the critical skills needed to strengthen those positions. The Hebrew University also runs a Free Listener Program, which allows senior citizens to audit courses as the fall semester begins.

Goldman’s personal history informs her academic path. Her grandparents moved to Argentina before relatives were murdered in the Holocaust. She attended a Jewish school in Buenos Aires through seventh grade, studying in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish. In 1983, she told her father that Israel was the only place she could see herself growing up. The family made aliyah six months later. She met her husband, Prof. Roy Shenhar, on the Givat Ram campus in 1995. They married in 1999.