Universities urged to work together to ramp up AI adoption

“In the face of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, universities need to ramp up their AI literacy skills and work together, as well as across sectors, to make the most of the AI revolution instead of being overwhelmed by it, says a new report by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU). “AI represents a structural shift, not a passing trend and coordinated action across all levels will be essential to harness its benefits while upholding the core mission and values of higher education,” reads the 29-page report, titled Charting a Path Forward for Ontario Universities in the Age of AI . It was written by a seven-member task force of the COU, made up of executive and senior university leaders, most with portfolios specific to digital technologies. The report is intended to guide the province’s universities in the safe, ethical and strategic integration of AI, while graduating students equipped to work with AI in their careers. Artificial intelligence in universities is “moving so fast, it’s confusing, and everyone’s trying to keep up,” said task force chair Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, after the report’s May 29 launch at a luncheon for 470 attendees hosted by The Empire Club of Canada at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York hotel. “If we work together as institutions, one: we can share what we’re learning, what the impact on pedagogy, research, operations looks like; but we can also share in either developing or procurement of the different tools. We can share in the literacy programs that we need to develop,” said Dr. Goel. Fittingly, he acknowledged the task force used AI to keep on top of the many emerging reports on AI and higher education.; The report is divided into reflections on where AI might take universities in various possible futures and their role in those futures; a snapshot of where universities are currently at in their AI readiness and “adaptation”(the report’s preferred term); guiding principles and strategies for that adaptation; and recommendations for universities and the federal and Ontario governments. Adaptation, it says, means “reimagining” current practices and structures for the AI era rather than simple adoption of new tools. Universities can serve as “anchors” during AI disruption Universities can ready themselves for unpredictable AI-influenced shifts and disruptions, the report said, by such measures as planning for both gradual and rapid change scenarios; redesigning assessments with a focus on judgment and creative and critical thinking; doubling down on transparency and reproducibility in research processes; prioritizing the unique human contributions of universities such as fieldwork and community engagement; and investing in shared infrastructure and the ability to bring multiple partners together across sectors. Broadly speaking, universities can serve as “economic and cultural anchors” during AI disruption by embedding AI competencies across their programs, providing experiential and lifelong learning opportunities to keep workers’ skills relevant, and contributing academic expertise to the public discourse around AI’s capacities and limitations. The report recommended the creation of tiered AI training programs for students, staff and faculty to advance their skills over time, including in bias detection, spotting misinformation, and ethical AI use. The report also speculated that universities might use their expertise and facilities to speed AI adoption and support cross-sectoral work on complex problems either related to or potentially solved by AI. Universities should ensure their decisions around AI reinforce academic integrity and align with their missions and responsibilities, and that their AI deployment enhances human judgment and expertise. The report further recommends that institutions should be accountable for the technology’s environmental footprint and contribute to ways to reduce it. Financial, privacy and academic integrity concerns The report pointed out that smaller institutions with more limited budgets for developing the required infrastructure to support AI adaptation — which could ultimately help them expand their programs and services — are at risk of being left behind, which is another reason why shared service models and sector-wide collaboration are needed to help everyone keep up. The task force’s consultations and surveys found that universities are in the early stages of adaptation, focused on building basic AI competency and familiarity within their institutions and creating and investing in institutional structures and infrastructure to support and give access to secure AI tools, among other things. Financing was identified as a significant barrier with additional concerns around providing transparency, protecting privacy, and what AI means for the university workforce. Significant growth in AI use was forecast over the next three years. Among AI’s opportunities, institutions referenced the chance for more personalized learning; better insight into student learning through analytics; tools to accelerate and refine research, as well as to support institutional compliance with policies and government regulations and general risk management. Risks included threats to data privacy, security and control; copyright and intellectual property violations; AI-enabled security threats to institutional systems; and loss of autonomy in the face of market-dominant tech platforms. There were also concerns around how existing policies apply to AI use and practices, although the task force found universities were using and adapting existing policy structures rather than creating entirely new AI-specific policies. Protecting academic integrity has been a growing concern and the report found fresh interest among universities in giving oral assessments as well as “declaration-based practices,” where students are permitted to use generative AI in their work but must disclose exactly how. The report suggested bringing in “AI experts across disciplines” to prepare graduates for an AI economy. Recommendations for governments, universities The task force’s recommendations to government covered familiar ground, with calls to invest in graduate, post-doctoral and research funding to attract AI research talent, and appeals for funding for work-integrated and experiential learning, as well as AI skills development. In particular, the federal government should invest in infrastructure and ease the path for commercialization of university AI research through such things as better technology transfer and supporting intellectual property development. The Ontario government was advised to help seed broader commercialization by being an early adopter of the AI technologies coming out of its universities. It was also advised to back universities’ collaborative procurement of AI tools. The longest list of recommendations, though, was directed to universities. Many of the 12 recommendations spoke to sharing best practices in AI-related training, pedagogy, leadership and quality assurance, and collaborating across the university system as well as with external partners, including with other universities worldwide. The task force recommended using sector-wide organizations such as the Ontario University Council of Chief Information Officers (OUCCIO) to investigate shared AI platforms and potential cost recovery models. It also suggested exploring pooled infrastructure and joint service delivery. To that end, the report said that the Council of Senior Administrative Officers and OUCCIO will set up a joint working group to look at how AI can improve operational efficiency, including through shared data centres and procurement. While universities may go it alone, they’re likelier to be successful by working together, said Dr. Goel. As for the future, he said, “I’m optimistic that our institutions are going to be at the leading edge of figuring out how to use these technologies in a responsible way and really focus in on the human skills that our students are going to need in the world going forward.” The post Universities urged to work together to ramp up AI adoption appeared first on University Affairs .

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