Deploying AGI in Higher Education: What Does the Future Hold?

Abstract

This chapter proposes that artificial general intelligence (AGI), once fully deployed, will pose existential questions for higher education institutions as they currently operate. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of the theory of technological determinism and disruptive innovation theory, the authors attempt to project how higher education institutions will be impacted by recent and upcoming developments in AI by juxtaposing current operations against expected future transformations. This chapter comes in four parts. In Part 1, the authors briefly review the advancements in AI technology, focusing on the distinction between artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) and AGI. Part 2 introduces the theory of technological determinism and disruptive innovation theory as a framework for conceptualizing the magnitude of the transformations expected to overtake higher education and their inevitability in some fashion. In Part 3, the authors tentatively juxtapose a series of expected AI-driven disruptions against their current forms. These disruptions will affect the academic infrastructure, instructional practice, curriculum design, grading and assessment, graduation pathways and global accessibility. Finally, the authors consider the implications of these transformations, which, taken together, amount to recasting the university system and constitute an invitation for theorizing these disruptions, assessing their impact and mitigating their effects. This chapter offers a dual contribution to the book. The first is conceptual, and it allows policymakers, educators and stakeholders to use existing theoretical frameworks to understand, imagine and possibly steer the direction of academic institutions so our futures are aided by AGI and not determined by it. The second contribution is practical. Identifying how and where disruptions will occur helps the authors oversee the transition to the new academic landscape with as much foresight and forethought as possible.

Citation

Raddaoui, A.H. and Raddaoui, O. (2024), "Deploying AGI in Higher Education: What Does the Future Hold?", Lytras, M.D., Serban, A.C., Alkhaldi, A., Malik, S. and Aldosemani, T. (Ed.) Digital Transformation in Higher Education, Part A (Emerald Studies in Active and Transformative Learning in Higher Education), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 101-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-480-620241006