Universities would prefer no AI
The author argues that higher education institutions are failing to adapt to the AI era, preferring to slow down technological adoption rather than integrate it. The piece contrasts the rapid AI development in the private sector with the stagnation of university research and infrastructure.
Why it matters
The critique highlights a growing disconnect between academic institutions and the industrial pace of AI innovation, suggesting a potential loss of relevance for universities.
Four years after ChatGPT caught so many by surprise, the primary role of higher education seems to be slowing down the public’s transition to the AI era. For many faculty, this is a win. For those focused on the future, this is the biggest institutional failure since the Victorian Post Office, with its monopoly on telegraph lines, dismissed the telephone because it had plenty of messenger boys . Adoption was slowed so much there were waiting lists for a home phone line into the 1970s. 1
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