Top of Mind
This week we saw an early example of institutional leaders reframing AI adoption from experimentation to structural strategy.
Arizona State University President Michael Crow argued this week that artificial intelligence should be viewed not as a disruption to higher education but as a fundamental redesign opportunity. Crow describes AI as a “tireless reference librarian” that can expand access to knowledge and personalize learning across institutions.
What stands out here is not simply the endorsement of AI. It is the framing.
When presidents and provosts begin positioning AI as an infrastructure layer rather than a tool, it signals that governance, curriculum design, and institutional policy will begin shifting accordingly.
I loved that Crow positions AI as a tool capable of dismantling the traditional industrial model of higher education
AI Governance Moves From Theory to Urgent Policy
An incident in California this week illustrates the real governance challenges schools are facing.
A fourth-grade student used an AI tool within Adobe Express to generate an image for a book project. Instead of producing an image of a children’s book character, the system generated sexualized images. The episode triggered immediate policy scrutiny and accelerated the release of new state guidance on AI use in schools.
This event reinforces something education leaders are rapidly learning about safety and guidance. The question remains: will they wait until their hair are on fire to pay attention?
AI safety failures in schools are rarely about malicious intent. They are about systems that have not yet been designed for children’s contexts. See the recent Brooking’s paper for more on the readiness of AI systems for student use.
Congress Hears From Educators: Schools Want Guardrails, Not Bans
During congressional discussions on AI in education this week, educators emphasized a consistent message: teachers do not want artificial intelligence removed from schools.
They want clear guardrails and guidance.
Experts emphasized that schools need policies that address:
- acceptable classroom use
- academic integrity
- privacy protections
- professional development for educators
This is an important shift in the public narrative. Early debates framed AI in schools as a binary choice between banning or allowing tools like ChatGPT. That framing is dissolving.
Instead, the conversation is moving toward operational governance, which includes policies, training systems, and leadership structures.
This makes the work we have been doing not only important but an imperative part of the ongoing story.
Multimodal AI Is Quietly Changing the Nature of Student Work
Recent developments in systems such as Google’s Gemini show how quickly AI capabilities are expanding beyond text.
New multimodal models can simultaneously interpret and generate text, images, audio, and video.
These capabilities enable AI systems to generate multimedia explanations, transform notes into video presentations, and produce visual learning artifacts from simple prompts.
This is one of the things I’ll be talking about during my keynote at CEC!
For decades, student work has largely been expressed in written form. Multimodal AI means future academic work may increasingly involve mixed-media reasoning. Students could demonstrate understanding through combinations of narrative, visualization, audio explanation, and simulation.
The exciting part of this is that it may be a driver for much needed evolution of assessment models.
Ethiopia Launches University AI Innovation Platform
Ethiopia launched a new University AI Innovation Platform. The platform will support students through the full innovation pipeline including AI skills training, research and software development, prototyping, and startup incubation.
The goal of this work is to move university research beyond theory and toward scalable technology ventures.
While not knew to the field, this does pose a new model for how Universities are positioning themselves not only as teaching institutions but also as AI innovation ecosystems, that link students, research, and entrepreneurship.
I’ll be keeping an eye on this one!
That’s it for now! We have a busy few weeks coming up with campus visits, speaking engagements, and as always a lot of co-design with educators, leaders, students, and families. More to come…
Remember that the future of education is being shaped now. We need informed, thoughtful voices to make meaningful choices. Subscribe to Jody’s newsletter for weekly updates as soon as they’re published at https://jodybritten.medium.com/subscribe
