about us

Sway is a chat platform that connects students with differing perspectives into one-on-one conversations, and uses AI to facilitate better discussions between them.

400+ instructors signed up
40,000 students they teach
100+ North American institutions
25 international schools

our story

Over half of American college students are afraid to discuss the Israel–Palestine conflict on campus. Abortion, gun control and affirmative action are not far behind.

Campuses need more respectful, scaffolded environments where students can practice constructive disagreement, honing skills like intellectual humility, cognitive empathy and critical thinking. We created Sway to address that need.

It is grounded in the approach Simon developed for his award-winning CMU course, Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society, and builds on our research on improving reasoning and communication. The success of Dangerous Ideas showed that students thrive when they are given a scaffolded environment that fosters open, charitable and rigorous discussion of controversial topics. With Sway, instructors at other institutions can give their students the same experience, whatever their available resources.

Our long-term aim is to help millions of college students cultivate intellectual virtues: humility, critical thinking, and the ability to engage productively across differences.

how Sway works

Every Sway assignment begins by eliciting student judgments about instructor-assigned discussion topics. The platform then pairs students who hold opposing perspectives into private chats, and scaffolds those discussions in two ways.

scaffold 01

An AI Guide is in every chat

Guide participates in much the way an experienced teacher would: it makes sure both voices are heard, de-escalates tense moments, and asks the tough questions that deepen a student's reasoning. It does not hold opinions of its own, and it does not take a side.

scaffold 02

Unconstructive language gets a second draft

When a student composes a message containing unconstructive language, Sway suggests a rephrasing that preserves the point but makes it clearer and more respectful. The student is free to send the original; doing so brings Guide into the exchange.

You can see all of this happening in de-identified transcripts from real student discussions, and in the instructor reports written from them. Student feedback and instructor testimonials are also on the site.

We have built Sway to be easy for instructors to use. Creating an assignment is a screen-by-screen walkthrough of the setup, and instructor resources collects the rest, including language that can be adapted for syllabi and course announcements.

our impact

Since our first empirical studies in mid-2024, thousands of students from over 80 universities have used Sway. They have discussed sex and gender identity, racism, tariffs, immigration, abortion, guns, addiction, homelessness, medical paternalism and the psychology of humor — among hundreds of other topics.

The response has been strongly positive from students and from instructors alike. Despite the potentially divisive subject matter, the vast majority of students report that their chat partners are respectful and have better reasons than expected, that they are not offended by their partner's perspective, and that it is valuable to chat with someone who holds a different one.

The numbers behind that paragraph are on student survey data: 11,000+ students, fourteen post-chat questions, every count and confidence interval shown.

looking ahead

We are collaborating with faculty, campus leaders, practitioner organizations and funders to normalize reasoned conversation between students with opposing perspectives. We have also opened Sway to learners everywhere, so that any two people can practice constructive conversation in a scaffolded environment, on any topic.

Up next

Where to go from here, depending on who you are.

elsewhere

Sway is operated by Disagree Wisely, developed with Heterodox Academy, and funded by grants rather than fees.