AI is here to stay – but can universities keep up?

What was once an academic taboo is now an educational staple. ChatGPT isn’t just part of the conversation – it’s changing how universities function.

When ChatGPT took off after its launch in late 2022, it was spoken of like a guilty secret. Students on campus felt like they were referencing a black market cheat code in their conversations; “ChatGPT” was whispered, hushed even, as opposed to batted about freely, like in 2025.

Nowadays, it’s discussed in many conversations about education, to the point where students openly use it in group tasks without having to discreetly hide their phones under the table.

As the rise of AI threatens to outpace the adjustment process experienced by academic institutions, educators face a tricky time in knowing how to implement the technology without eroding their academic integrity.

Schools flip on AI

California State University has recently integrated the “ChatGPT Edu” version amongst 500,000 students on 23 campuses. This embedding of AI tools aims to transform outdated institutional practices and propel students ahead.

The collaboration “will position CSU as a global leader among higher education systems in the impactful, responsible, and equitable adoption of artificial intelligence” announced Mildred Garcia, the CSU Chancellor.

The partnership is also intended to provide a "homegrown" aspect to an increasingly AI-conscious workforce, with Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Adobe, Amazon, IBM, Intel, and LinkedIn all being potential local employers for students in the future.

The emergence of AI is a semi-recent event, and other educational institutions have already had a couple of twists and turns in attitude shifts so far on the timeline.

In January 2023, the New York City Department of Education banned ChatGPT from its network, citing concerns over accuracy and plagiarism.

By October the same year, it had revoked the ban, and have since then established an Artificial Intelligence Policy Lab to guide the use of responsible AI used in study matters.

What does such a shift in position reveal about the attitudes of both students and educators in adopting AI?

It seems as if it was only a matter of time before the vast majority are all aboard. It’s whether or not institutions can steer at this rapid speed at which the tech powers through at.

Colleges in catch-up mode

With around 5300 colleges and universities in the US alone, and a plethora of integrations available for academic institutions, are they adapting fast enough? And is there a danger of scaling up too quickly for fear of being overtaken by AI’s rapid onslaught?

Perhaps parallels can be drawn about other technological inflection points, like the offset of the internet into general IT lessons.

Being taught how to send an email in the late 1990s seemed superfluous or skeptical to technological doubters – nevertheless schools adapted the curriculum to help prepare students for key life skills.

This is backed up by John Mazariegos, executive director of information security at National Louis University.

“The conversation around AI reminds me of the talk about digital literacy back when online education started. AI literacy will quickly become an expectation for students and a requirement for institutions to embrace and teach,” Mazariegos told Cybernews.

Future-proofing with AI

One of the key drivers for universities today is to implement AI in their infrastructure to keep up with the employment sector. Especially as we are considered to be the fourth industrial revolution, hesitating or shunning AI doesn’t seem like a good option.

For example, in legal tech, the speed and escalation of which legal research and contract review is able to be achieved by a machine – instead of a shady lawyer like Saul Goodman employing an assistant to sift though a forest of dossiers is impressive. Thus a human and machine collaboration seems the best bet.

The catch is, AI adoption isn’t driven by pure academic free will. It’s more like a train that left the station at full speed – now universities must jump aboard or risk missing the gold rush.

AI is putting tremendous pressure on university systems, forcing institutions to rethink how they prepare students for a workforce that will expect AI proficiency across every industry,

Marlee Strawn, former teacher and principal of Scholar Education, Florida.

AI: teacher’s ally?

Perhaps AI can be used to help teachers also tailor their lessons better to the individual, as the former one-size-fits-all approach is defunct nowadays.

Plus you can factor in that teachers are overstretched, and can’t always help students that struggle, or challenge the best ones, so an AI integration would pay dividends here.

And if a teacher doesn’t have to do lesson planning on a Sunday, for the following week (as my sister often testifies,) then perhaps the education sector might be able to attract more teachers to help fill the deficit of jobs.

ChatGPT might have a case in the dean’s office too, as academic support can be overwhelming or embarrassing to seek. If a student needs counselling or is overwhelmed about finances, a sympathetic AI agent may sufficiently aid a burned-out secretary:

“One surprising way AI is changing university life is by putting personalized academic support directly into students' hands – whether universities provide it or not.Traditionally, students with learning differences, language barriers, or executive functioning challenges have relied on structured accommodations in K-12” observed Strawn.

That shows the necessity for the integration of AI across the board, not just in prestigious universities in California. While having serious conversations about the topic, with students, administrators and of course parents, the onset and integration should be smoother, rather than a stubborn “no dessert before dinner!” – even if you’re eating fruit.

The ChatGPT trap

But it can’t all be money for old rope. If there becomes an over-reliance on operating AI, then it’s like a GPS user who forgets how to read road signs, or at least doesn’t know how to ask someone about them.

We should ask ourselves about the worst-case scenario in this institution-led adoption. When asking Irina Raicu, director of the internet ethics program at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, California, if she noted any pessimism, she told us:

“If AI use grows carelessly, the worst-case outcome would be that the collaborative and creative effort of education – which, at its best, in many courses, happens between instructors and students and among the students themselves – would be replaced by a cursory interaction between software tools.”

Such cursory interactions may already be epitomised, like when I walk into my teenage ESL (English as a second language class) during the interval, and there’s a wall of silence with everyone just scrolling – but perhaps AI could prompt more course worthy discussion instead of talking about a dry textbook.

Whether or not AI increases or stagnates critical thinking, it remains all to play for – this probably depends on the course and tutor, as applying a “one-size-fits-all” back in the face of AI is equally as limiting.

One may argue that it helps to understand both sides of a debate, aggregate information, or delve into unknown sources, which would be a huge plus for accessibility.

Whether or not it’s better to be an expert in unknown areas, it’s hard to dispute. But Dan Klein, director of public relations at the University of Indianapolis, told Cybernews:

“As students explore various AI packages, they are completely shocked by what they are now capable of doing….They are even creating AI avatars of themselves to deliver presentations.”

A teacher's worst nightmare then: students calling in sick and being able to self-represent.