Last week, I spoke to a teacher who told me how he had given his students a complex analysis assignment. He was proud, because ‘you can't just throw this into an AI chatbot. ’That same evening, I heard from a student how she had “worked out” a similar assignment in five minutes using generative AI. The rest of her time was spent on Instagram and TikTok. Reality is catching up with us, rapidly.
This is not an argument for or against AI. It is an observation: the AI genie is out of the bottle. Figures from our IT department show that thousands of students use chatbots every hour. They live in a world where AI is the most normal thing in the world. Even when choosing which pizza to order, they consult AI. The question is not whether we should deal with this, but how we can ensure that our education remains relevant, challenging and meaningful.
From text to transcendence
The impact is fundamental. As a colleague said during a recent meeting: ‘'Basically, every text-based individual test has become worthless. That sounds harsh, but it raises an essential question: what are we educating our students for? Are we going to continue testing reproduction – something AI is now brilliant at – or are we going to focus on what is uniquely human: critical thinking, creativity, versatile reasoning, and the art of dialogue?
This does not call for incremental adjustments, but for a revision of our foundations. The danger is that we hide behind practical questions about “what is allowed” and “how do we assess this”. These are important questions, but they distract from the systemic question: what is the added value of the teacher and the university in the age of AI?
The AI Literacy Companion: a mirror for our dilemma
The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) recently published the AI Literacy Companion for our students. This handbook, a “living document” that is updated every six months, is a wonderful initiative. It meets an urgent need for practical guidelines, ethical reflection and tools for responsible use.
At the same time, the criticism levelled at it perfectly illustrates our collective dilemma. The essence of that criticism is that by explaining AI use, we are facilitating inappropriate behaviour. This is an understandable but, in my opinion, risky line of reasoning. It assumes that we can ignore or ban AI. As if we could keep a powerful new technology, which our students are already embracing en masse, outside the academic walls.
Rediscovering the steep learning curve
Our students often seek the easiest route, which is understandable. Our task is to challenge them not to choose the path of least resistance, but to climb the steep learning curve again. This cannot be achieved by banning AI, but by integrating it intelligently. Imagine a lecture hall without laptops, where students work together to unravel a problem on a large white sheet of paper. Or an assignment in which AI is used for data analysis, but where interpretation, critical thinking and moral considerations are central. In this way, we turn the enemy into a friend, without getting lost in instrumental discussions.
And by the way, the European AI Regulation requires organisations, including ours, to ensure AI literacy from 2 February 2025 onwards. This is no longer just an educational choice; it is a legal obligation to equip our students and staff with the knowledge and skills to use AI responsibly.
Taking on the challenge together
We cannot impose this change from above alone. It must be a co-creation between teachers, support staff, policymakers and, last but not least, students. Students are “the” experts in the use of AI. Let's see them as partners, utilise their insights and discover together what good education in the 21st century entails.
The rise of AI is not a technological update. It is an existential question for our profession as teachers in higher education. It is our challenge, as an academic community, to organise our education in such a way that we continue to challenge students to grow, create and reflect. Only then will we continue to do what is expected of a university: to educate critical thinkers who are ready for the future, with all the tools that go with it.