From Digital Native to AI-Empowered: Learning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
- Higher education institutions should emphasize AI literacy and empowerment for their staff and faculty, ensuring they model best practices, protect sensitive institutional data, and collaborate effectively with students.
- Scholars must identify AI's contributions within their specific fields, to prepare learners for relevant jobs.
- Professors should become adept at considering AI when designing assessments.
- Higher education technology organizations will be under increased pressure to develop new AI-focused data protection and privacy approaches, particularly as efforts to compromise AI tools increase. "Walled garden" solutions that keep institutional data safe internally while integrating external data offer the best advantages.
- Leaders in higher education will tread a complex policy environment, weighing the benefits against risks related to data and intellectual property rights.
As our understanding of AI evolves, the potential for synergistic human-AI collaboration will pave the way for next-generation innovators, influencing the future of work. Keep in mind, AI has been anticipated to impact knowledge workers in sectors like law and marketing. However, it is now impacting professions once considered "safe." In my roles as an advocate, consultant, and professor of learning experience design and organizational leadership, I'm committed to promoting the cooperative spirit exemplified by Captain Picard and Data. Taking a cue from Captain Picard, this vision is imperative to prepare the next generation, or "Gen AI," to "make it so."
Note: OpenAI's GPT-4 provided editing support during this article's drafting process.