Preface

Why This Book Had to Be Written

Every generation inherits a university shaped by the technologies of the one before it.

The medieval university was built around manuscripts and oral instruction. The Industrial Revolution gave rise to the modern research university. The computer transformed administration. The internet connected classrooms across continents. Cloud computing made education global.

Each technological revolution changed not only the tools universities used, but also how they fulfilled their mission. Artificial intelligence (AI) represents the next transformation. Yet this book is not about using AI in higher education. It is about reimagining the university itself.

Much of today’s conversation focuses on isolated applications: AI tutors, automated grading, chatbots and agents, plagiarism detection, content generation, or research assistants. These innovations are important, but they are incremental improvements to an institutional model designed long before artificial intelligence existed.

Adding AI to a university is like adding electricity to a factory built for steam power. The technology helps, but it does not fundamentally redesign the system. An AI-native university begins with a different question: If we were designing a university today, knowing that artificial intelligence exists, what would we build?

This question changes everything. It changes how students learn, how faculty teach, how research is conducted, how decisions are made, how institutions are governed, and, overall, how universities fulfill their mission to society.

Being AI-native does not mean replacing professors with machines. It does not mean automating every decision. Nor does it mean chasing the latest technology trend. Instead, it means designing an institution in which human and artificial intelligence work together intentionally. Faculty become even more essential as mentors, scholars, and creators. Students receive unprecedented levels of personalized support. Administrators gain intelligent partners that reduce complexity and improve decision-making. Researchers accelerate discovery while preserving academic rigor and integrity.

Throughout my career working with colleges and universities, I have had the privilege of witnessing both the extraordinary strengths of higher education and the immense challenges it faces. Institutions are being asked to educate more diverse learners, prepare graduates for rapidly evolving careers, expand access, improve outcomes, reduce costs, and innovate faster than ever before—all while operating under increasing financial and organizational pressure.

Artificial intelligence does not solve these challenges by itself. But it offers us the opportunity to redesign the institution in ways that were previously impossible.

This book proposes a blueprint for that redesign. It draws from years of collaboration with universities, technology leaders, faculty members, instructional designers, administrators, and students. It combines practical experience with an optimistic vision: that AI can strengthen, rather than diminish, the core values of higher education.

The university has endured for nearly a thousand years because it has continuously adapted to profound societal change. Artificial Intelligence is another such moment—not one to fear, but one to shape with wisdom, purpose, and courage.

The future of higher education will not be determined by artificial intelligence alone, but by the leaders who choose how to design institutions that use it wisely. This book is an invitation to those leaders. Not simply to adopt AI. But to build the AI-native university.