How Can Educators Improve the Teaching of Psychology Through AI? Comment on Robinson et al. (2026)

Introduction

Robinson et al. (2026) outline the opportunity for artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the traditional psychology undergraduate degree by enhancing the skills and knowledge that students develop during this time. However, students, employers, and even educators struggle to identify the outcomes of a psychology bachelor's degree. While AI may provide multiple strategies that will enhance the career options for psychology graduates, it needs to be incorporated into a broader framework that considers the most recent and culturally responsive framework for foundational psychology competences. This commentary argues that Robinson et al.'s proposal would be strengthened by the inclusion of a recent, internationally constructed competency model, as well as recognizing that educators must adopt the goals that support effective AI use in educational settings. It finishes with a focus on the scholarship that supports the impact of AI on students’ learning outcomes, particularly the transfer of learning.

There are three resources that are described in the target article: “The APA's Guidelines for Undergraduate Psychology Major 3.0 (APA, 2023b), The Principles for Undergraduate Education in Psychology (hereafter The Principles) (APA, 2023a), and The Skillful Psychology Student (Naufel et al., 2018)” (p. 8). These three resources offer multiple opportunities for including generative AI in the undergraduate curriculum with the aim of promoting a sense of AI fluency (Robinson et al., 2026). Given where these resources have been published, they may, however, reflect the dominant western perspectives about the nature of psychology and psychology education. These resources should be combined with a more recent model that has incorporated extensive consideration of different cultural perspectives, including non-western and indigenous perspectives (Nolan et al., 2026). The processes used in developing the International Competences for Undergraduate Psychology (ICUP) model were based on extensive collaboration and consultation with an explicit focus on the cultural responsiveness of the ICUPO group members throughout the process (Cranney et al., 2026).

Robinson et al. (2026) provide a series of tables with suggestions as to how AI could be integrated into the APA Guidelines 3.0 goals, the Principles, and the specific skills outlined in the Skillful Psychology Student. These are exceptionally helpful for psychology educators and will greatly facilitate the integration of AI into the curriculum. The ICUP model (Nolan et al., 2026) also features AI skills as a critical component in the competence domain of Psychology-relevant Communication & Interpersonal Skills with the statement, “Digital Literacy (including aspects of artificial intelligence [AI] literacy) is crucial in facilitating communication and collaboration” (p. 8) and the specific competence “6.3 Demonstrate appropriate and ethical use of digital technology to facilitate communication and collaboration using a variety of communicative formats” (p. 9). While this goal and the competence are narrower than the wider range described in Robinson et al. (2026), it does reinforce that AI fluency is one of the priorities of the undergraduate program.

Robinson et al. (2026) suggest that the optimal path forward is to integrate AI throughout the curriculum with a clear focus on the knowledge and skills that are required in the future workforce, particularly AI-relevant skills. This approach is strongly supported, although the rapid development of AI systems presents a major challenge to educators facing issues such as deskilling of their roles. In Australia, the higher education community has released a plan for addressing the impact of AI on education called The Castlereagh Statement (Castlereagh Summit, 2026). The three overarching goals in the Statement fully support the five goals that are described from the APA Guidelines 3.0 goals, the Principles, as well as the specific skills outlined in the Skillful Psychology Student. The Statement seeks to achieve a national consensus on the “knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions that we want humans to continue developing and demonstrating.” (p. 3). It also proposes developing “a national framework for learning ‘future-ready skills’” (p. 3) and a process that ensures all Australians are equipped with “the capabilities and discernment to know how to use AI effectively and responsibly” (p. 3). These goals are supported by six principles and a three-part framework for coordinated, collaborative action. It will help to ensure that discipline-specific frameworks such as those described by Robinson et al. (2026) are embedded in broader educational reforms.

Finally, it seems that the evidence for the impact of AI systems on students’ learning and transfer is still unclear. Robinson et al. (2026) suggest that AI will support authentic learning and student engagement. They also suggest that “psychology is uniquely positioned, and arguably obligated, to lead this critical frontier” (p. 3). The goal of education is to ensure that knowledge and skills acquired in one setting will transfer to another setting, both where the situation may resemble the learning environment (near transfer) or be vastly different (far transfer). Educators must focus on the scholarship into which learning-related activities and strategies support transfer of learning, and how these are enhanced through AI. For example, how does feedback from AI on assessment influence the student's acceptance of that feedback and development of their feedback literacy? Feedback from AI can be extremely quick and may assist students in checking their progress towards the assessment goal. However, it also may distance the student from the teacher and potentially undermine their ownership of the learning process. It is also the case that AI may greatly assist students in the transfer process by providing an opportunity for simulated learning in work contexts to support students’ application of their learning. These approaches could assist students’ learning transfer and prepare students for a wide range of career paths.

Conclusion

Robinson et al. (2026) have a wealth of ideas about how generative AI may be helpful to psychology educators in their efforts to strengthen the undergraduate curriculum and prepare psychology students to use AI responsibly in the workplace. The ICUP model also recognizes that “Digital Literacy (including aspects of artificial intelligence [AI] literacy)” is critical. The Castlereagh Statement indicates a broad consensus of the key goals that educational institutions and policy makers should pursue. Finally, psychology researchers and educators must continue to focus on the scholarship that supports the design of educational and teaching activities that promote the transfer of students’ learning.