Reimagining higher education: AI is the catalyst we can’t ignore

By: Maria Anguiano, executive vice president, ASU Learning Enterprise

How can universities keep up when technology is evolving 10x faster?

Universities can no longer afford gradual change. The landscape of higher education, designed to adapt slowly, now faces an unprecedented technological leap with AI reshaping nearly every sector at remarkable speeds. 

Venture capitalist Mary Meeker recently published the paper “AI + Universities,” underscoring an urgent message: universities that delay AI integration may risk their relevance in the future. Arizona State University is responding to this challenge head-on as the first university to establish an enterprise-level partnership with OpenAI, leveraging advanced AI and hundreds of other large language models to drive personalized education, enhance research and prepare students for an AI-driven world.

This is a moment to reimagine the student experience, allowing AI to empower learners as active participants. What if students used AI to design their own projects, engage in immersive simulations, or collaborate across disciplines to solve pressing global challenges? Could we create educational models that encourage students to explore and apply knowledge dynamically rather than passively absorbing information in lectures?

Meeker’s insights raise a vital question to all higher education leaders: How can universities use AI to build a future-ready model for learning? AI’s potential goes beyond simply enhancing tools; it represents a fundamental shift in how we access, teach, and apply knowledge, urging us to revisit education’s purpose and design.

Self-driving cars: why are students still in the back seat of learning?

AI-powered self-driving cars can navigate autonomously, yet they still look like traditional cars. Why keep the back seats? Familiarity often dictates design. Similarly, many universities are adding AI within legacy educational structures, leaving students in a passive, back-seat role in their own education. But what if AI allowed us to rethink this entirely—putting students firmly in the driver’s seat?

AI challenges us to return to first principles, asking foundational questions about the purpose of education in an AI-driven world. What if learning were designed around exploration, adaptability, and ownership? By embracing these possibilities, universities have a unique opportunity to move beyond traditional models, placing students in control of their educational journey to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving future.

Neural networks: Connecting ideas across fields to drive insights

Neural networks, the backbone of AI, continuously learn by making connections across vast datasets, improving with each interaction. This ability to make connections offers a valuable model for education, allowing us to explore interdisciplinary learning in a whole new way. AI makes it easier to connect traditionally siloed academic fields, enabling cross-disciplinary insights that can drive innovation and address complex challenges. 

In a world where fields like medicine, data science and environmental studies increasingly intersect, universities can harness AI to unlock new avenues for research and learning that bridge these areas.

A lifelong, adaptable learning model that evolves with individuals is essential. Universities can lead by creating stackable, flexible learning pathways that support students from foundational skills to advanced expertise. These pathways encourage continuous learning, allowing individuals of all ages to build knowledge progressively and transition seamlessly into new roles, fields, and stages of life.

ASU’s AI-driven career upskilling programs embody this model, providing learners with stackable credentials that grow with them. From foundational AI skills to specialized areas like public policy or finance, these programs help individuals expand their expertise and adapt to evolving workforce needs. This approach reflects the interdisciplinary and changing demands of the job market, enabling learners to navigate careers that are as dynamic as the industries they serve.

Generative AI: an invitation to greater human creativity

Generative AI’s ability to produce essays, code, and art at unprecedented speeds prompts us to see it not as a replacement but as a muse for creativity. It opens new avenues for learners to explore ideas, test boundaries, and move beyond repetitive tasks to focus on innovation and originality. This emerging technology isn’t about automating knowledge; it’s about inspiring fresh ways of thinking and creating.

In classrooms, generative AI can foster creative solutions to real-world problems, such as simulating sustainable resource strategies or developing healthcare innovations. For instance, a student working on climate solutions could use generative AI to model different environmental scenarios, exploring the potential impacts of resource management techniques or conservation efforts. 

Rather than simply providing answers, AI encourages students to engage deeply, critically evaluating AI-generated content to uncover insights, ethical considerations, and original approaches. When viewed as a creative partner, AI offers students a springboard for imagination, complex problem-solving, and applied learning.

Moving beyond physical campuses: redefining the boundaries of learning

AI and other digital technologies have removed physical constraints, allowing education to transcend geographic boundaries. Beyond digital, immersive replicas of campuses, AI-powered technology enables immersive, hands-on learning experiences in virtual environments, creating new possibilities for education. In fields like healthcare and engineering, digital twins—data-rich, real-time models of complex systems—allow learners to experiment and practice in realistic, risk-free settings.

At ASU’s Next Lab, students aren’t just engaging in these virtual environments—they’re building them. By creating digital twins of spaces like cleanrooms and laboratories, ASU students gain firsthand experience with advanced AI tools, preparing them to innovate and contribute to accessible, interactive education. Through hands-on development, students become active participants in shaping both physical and virtual learning spaces, building the skills to push the boundaries of what’s possible in education.

AI is not just a tool—it’s an open invitation to redesign education

As Meeker’s paper emphasizes, universities today must take the lead in an AI-powered world. This is a pivotal moment to move beyond retrofitting technology into current models and instead reimagine the foundations of our current educational system. AI invites us to return to first principles: What is learning for, and what do we want it to achieve?

AI empowers us to fundamentally rethink how education can shape the future, inspire innovation, and address global challenges. By embracing a human-centered approach, universities can unlock AI’s full potential to foster critical thinking, ingenuity, and resilience—qualities that will empower the next generation to lead and solve society’s largest challenges.