By Mike Simmons, Ph.D., Associate Executive Director, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships Division
It seems you can’t read anything about education or technology without seeing the letters “AI”—and there’s a good reason for that. At AACRAO, we’re observing the steady creep, and sometimes dramatic leap, of AI-related functionality across our institutions, operations, and vendor partnerships.
We can all see the potential benefits AI offers in terms of efficiency, speed, and scope. But there’s another side to this coin, and AACRAO is leading an exploration of AI’s impact on critical issues like FERPA, PII protection, and the use of administrative data in training models.
I recently attended the EDUCAUSE annual meeting, where more than 250 vendors exhibited. I saw only a handful that didn’t feature AI marketing or information in their materials or at their booths. We observed the same pattern at the recent AACRAO Conference for Strategic Enrollment Management.
AACRAO has also engaged in conversations with major AI vendors—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, GitLab, and others—to better understand this rapidly changing landscape and its potential effects on our members’ work and higher education administrative systems. It won’t surprise you to know that AI is already impacting the work. I’m guessing you’ve noticed the gradual introduction of AI functionality in your vendor partnerships, and I’m certain you’re finding it challenging to keep pace with the dizzying array of features being suggested or sold to you.
So what does the AACRAO response to this look like? We’re forming a coalition of national associations focused on higher education administrative functions. The premise is simple: a coalition representing professionals who work with these systems is likely the most effective way to address what we see as inevitable challenges—challenges that are matched by equally significant opportunities.
We’re interested in member feedback on these topics. If you have thoughts to share, please contact me directly so we can better understand what’s happening in the field.
In closing, I’ll point to one recent AACRAO publication that illustrates the scope of this topic: the LEARN Commission’s green paper, “AI-Supported Credit Mobility: Opportunities and Challenges in Higher-Education Transfer Systems,” by Dr. Wendy Kilgore and Dr. Jesse Boeding. We believe this represents just the first wave of AI integration into our work.