The Existential Threat To Universities

Forbes

25-04-2025

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 08: A view of the campus of Harvard University on July 08, 2020 in ... More Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have sued the Trump administration for its decision to strip international college students of their visas if all of their courses are held online. (Photo by)
It's strange times for Ivy League schools – aside from all of the other sorts of campus and political issues that administrators have to deal with, so many of those in higher education planning are looking over their shoulders at the prospect of emerging artificial intelligence.
Is AI coming for education?
It's a fair question, and one that's inspiring educators and others with skin in the game to think about how this might play out.
'Universities are grappling with how to integrate AI into curricula while also addressing ethical concerns and potential academic integrity issues,' writes Matthew Lynch at The Tech Edvocate. 'Many institutions have implemented AI literacy courses to ensure students understand both the capabilities and limitations of these tools. ... Some universities have embraced AI-powered chatbots for student support services, reporting increased efficiency and student satisfaction. However, concerns persist about the impact of AI on critical thinking skills and the potential for over-reliance on technology. Faculty members are adapting their teaching methods and assessment strategies to encourage original thought in an AI-saturated world.'
That's part of the picture – but some employees of university systems are also worried about their business. In addition to privacy and ethics concerns, there is the threat of disruption, which could change the business model of the university as an institution.
In a recent presentation at the Imagination in Action April 15 event, former Harvard student Will Sentance talked about this existential threat and how it might affect big schools, using Harvard as an example.
Harvard, he quipped, is often described as 'a hedge fund with a classroom attached,' or rather, a multipurpose institution – he named things like a health network and publications as other components of the Harvard octopus. A long-standing practice with universities and other businesses, he contends, is to 'bundle' services and products, to augment the appeal of a business brand. Higher education may be less different than we think.
Citing 'hundreds of years of expansion,' Sentance suggested the best laid plans of Harvard people and those elsewhere in the Ivy League could come unraveled fairly quickly, given the pace of AI development.
As a precursor, Sentance cited 20 years of 'unbundling' of newspapers and cable TV, where disruptive models emerged and took down these traditional media companies.
'Unbundling could now come for education,' he said.
As for a 'moat' in higher ed, Sentance noted the importance of education and research, and a symbiotic systems where world class professors mentor the 'brightest young intellects,' who, he added, are vital to lab science work.
But he also referenced Andrej Karpathy and Eureka Labs, mentioning AI's ability to 'emulate any teacher,' which he said raises 'existential questions for universities.'
'How do we nurture what is human?' Sentance asked rhetorically.
'Open AI and others know this is coming,' Sentance said, citing rumors about what Sam Altman says about AI and education in private. While positing that some disruption can be constructive, Sentance asked whether universities are capable of what he calls 'inventive renewal.'
On the other hand, he acknowledged that humans are guiding other humans toward educational objectives, and AI doesn't seem poised to change that anytime soon.
'Struggle is hard,' he added, conceding that right now, it's humans (professors) supporting students in learning.
In not too many years, we might have an entirely new system of education. As my colleague John Sviokla envisions, we may finally have a universal tutoring model, where it's always one teacher (human, AI or blended) and one student. Sentance also suggests that while where may be growing pains, we might end up with more human teachers, not fewer.
'Journalism experienced something similar,' he pointed out, ' the collapse in cost of information distribution, complete disruption to journalism, but that (didn't lead) to fewer storytellers, rather more the growth of their own audiences. … I'm confident the same will happen for education: new forms of learning, new forms of teaching, but more teachers, more lifelong learning, and at a whole new scale, to audiences previously left out.'
That's optimistic.
But it's compelling, too. To the extent that Substack and other venues are the new journalism, maybe tomorrow's teachers will be thriving in places other than traditional schools. Education might look different, but in many ways, it might actually get better.