The Idea of a University in the 21st Century – Disruptive Impact of ChatGPT on Higher Education

Education based on humanistic values, enlightenment ideas, and culture is one of the most important pillars of common European heritage. Since the establishment of the first universities on the European continent in the 11th and 12th centuries, the scholastic tradition and proper research methods have been passed down from generation to generation. Some of the parallels between past and present are more than captivating. For example, the flagship of the European integration process – the Erasmus Program has its roots in the 17th century. Many young European aristocrats participated in the so-called Grand Tour consisting of a tour around European countries for educational purposes and grasping new worldviews. One of the biggest achievements of past centuries is the reality of higher education being accessible to broad masses of young Europeans. English scholar John Henry Newman in his book The Idea of a University defends the importance of liberal education and its importance for society as a whole.

What is the idea of a university, its raison d'être, in the age of artificial intelligence and chatbots, such as ChatGPT?

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The introduction of ChatGPT and other chatbot programs in the early months of the year 2023 caught universities and academia off guard. Advanced chatbots nowadays possess almost omnipotent power to create any text from scratch based on information from approximately 2 billion websites on the Internet. Writing academic theses is used at most of the European universities as proof of the research capabilities and criterion of performance for awarding students with an academic degree. However, with the rise of artificial intelligence, the breach of academic honesty by presenting plagiarized work as own became more effortless and the process of plagiarism detection more difficult. Universities were thus forced by these circumstances to adapt measures to detect and prevent cheating by using anti-plagiarism software.

According to a recent survey by the US-based Center for Democracy and Technology, almost two-thirds of American university lecturers admitted using anti-plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin, to check the work published by their students. Some of the European universities went even further. Prague University of Economics and Business announced that it will not require the writing of a bachelor thesis from the recently enrolled students due to the widespread use of artificial intelligence. Instead, bachelor theses will be substituted by more practically oriented graduate projects.

The Washington Post recently published an opinion article with a heading stating that “artificial intelligence is an existential threat to colleges”. Nevertheless, is the current situation with artificial intelligence such an alarming issue and existential threat to centuries of academic tradition or does it also offer a brighter vision of the future?
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Numerous lecturers working in academia worldwide raised their opinions about the current and future impact of artificial intelligence on higher university education. The majority of the experts, such as computer science professors from New Zealand, Finland, the United States and Ireland, call for “updated pedagogical strategies that focus on new skill sets.” University professors interested in adopting artificial intelligence to higher education think that academia will be able to adapt to it far more effectively than other industries, in ways that will improve both learning and the experience of instructors, if they manage to work with it effectively. Furthermore, AI-powered tools can assist instructors in creating engaging activities, as well as providing grading and feedback assistance. They may also be used to develop curriculum, analyze learning outcomes, and recommend best practices for instructional design.

Some of the universities, such as Arizona State University, announced a collaboration with OpenAI, inviting faculty and staff members to submit their ideas for enhancing student success, forging new avenues for innovative research and streamlining organizational processes. Numerous Canadian universities are even establishing pilot artificial intelligence projects, including automating financial auditing processes and working with faculty to develop new courses in the humanities. Academia nowadays also deals with a high number of overworked lecturers, therefore increasing the efficiency of the people would increase their autonomy and their ability to get a lot of important things done. Artificial intelligence can automate numerous routine processes to let professors focus on the important and meaningful parts of their work. Another positive aspect of artificial intelligence in higher education is its ability to directly assist students, without them actually using chatbots to cheat and plagiarize work. Artificial intelligence can for example help students who come unprepared to the university by supporting and delivering a more targeted education, including personalized tutoring and reviews.
On the other hand, computer scientist Shlomo Engelson Argamon is fully aware of the potential downsides of using artificial intelligence in higher education, stating: “It’s very easy to take these tools and turn this into dystopia.” He believes there are three main categories of immediate risks of artificial intelligence, such as disinformation, the dubious labour practices within the development of artificial intelligence itself; and the changes in the labour market and

the economy. There is a common belief that artificial intelligence is not going to destroy job opportunities but transform them. It is thus essential for professors in academia to teach their students what they need to know about using artificial intelligence in their profession, so they can be a part of the positive, not negative development of their occupation.

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2. Bloomberg - Are you a robot? (2024, October 18). https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-18/do-ai-detectors-work-students-face-false-cheating-accusations

3. Erasmus and the historical roots of studying abroad - What are the histories of students being educated in other countries? (2020, September 1). https://www.europeana.eu/en/stories/erasmus-and-the-historical-roots-of-studying-abroad

4. Gil Press. (2024, February 14). Is AI going to transform higher education and how? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2024/02/14/is-ai-going-to-transform-higher-education-and-how/

5. How is Artificial Intelligence Impacting Higher Education? (2024, February 28). School of Communication and Information | Rutgers University. https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/news/how-artificial-intelligence-impacting-higher-education#:~:text=AI%2Dpowered%20tools%20can%20also,best%20practices%20for%20instructional%20design.

6. Lanford, Michael. (2019). John Henry Newman: The Idea of a University. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332739400_John_Henry_Newman_The_Idea_of_a_University

7. První škola ruší bakalářské práce, kvůli AI nejdou uhlídat. Další zvažují změny - iDNES.cz. (2023, November 23). https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/bakalarka-prace-titul-vysoka-skola-ekonomicka-v-praze-vse.A231123_150913_domaci_zof

8. The Washington Post - AI is an existential threat to colleges. Can they adapt? (2024, September

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