Can AI teach dialogue skills to college students?

Abstract

Higher education faces two rising pressures: political polarization is near historic highs in the United States, while generative AI is rapidly reshaping how students learn and communicate. Hundreds of millions of college-aged adults already use AI weekly, yet only one in four institutions have a formal policy governing that use. This white paper reviews emerging evidence on the intersection of these challenges—specifically, how AI can support constructive dialogue on college campuses and beyond. Three emerging roles for AI in dialogue are identified: AI as a coach for building individual dialogue skills, AI as a mediator for facilitating conversations across differences, and AI as a conversation partner for engaging students in disagreement. A clear pattern emerges from the evidence: the more constrained and pedagogically structured the AI tool’s role, the lower the risk and the stronger the current evidence base. AI coaching shows initial promise for skill-building at scale, AI mediation offers a potential path to structured conversations across differences, and AI conversation partners, under current evidence, carry risks that outweigh demonstrated benefits. Purpose-built AI dialogue tools offer institutions a structured alternative to generic AI, with pedagogical design, safeguards, and oversight built in. As students are already engaging with AI daily—with or without institutional guidance—these findings are relevant for institutions and researchers seeking to shape the role AI plays in how students engage across lines of difference.