Dispatches from the financial front lines of a jittery sector

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Artificial intelligence will inspire a renaissance in teaching and research. Or it will bring about the end of higher education as we know it. And I don’t pretend to know which.

But I suspect reality will land somewhere in the middle, with a mix of wins and losses we can’t yet accurately predict.

I know a little something about tech’s impact on campuses. I’ve covered innovation and higher education for more than 25 years, much of that time as a reporter and editor at The Chronicle.

	Along the way, I’ve tracked the early days of online learning, the rise of MOOCs, and the many tech tools that have transformed how campuses operate. AI is now the big story. To help you make sense of this fast-moving technology, I’m starting a new, biweekly newsletter called Jagged Intelligence. Sign up here to get the first issue in your inbox on May 19.

Why Jagged Intelligence? That’s a term researchers use to describe how AI can be eye-poppingly adept at some tasks and hopelessly inept at others — a mix of promise and frustration.

This newsletter will help you make sense of that uneven landscape, highlighting emerging best practices and lessons from the field.

Each issue will be short and lively, featuring informed analysis of the latest developments in AI on campuses. I aim to give you an edge as you think about whether and how to bring the technology to your own work. And I’ll share stories of what I’m learning as I travel to campuses around the country.

I’ll cover how generative AI raises fundamental questions for teaching and curriculum, while reshaping research, publishing, and all aspects of administrative work.

These shifts are fueling a growing divide in higher ed.

Professors helped invent this technology, and proponents dream that the tools can expand human knowledge. And pressure is mounting from university boards, government leaders, and parents urging colleges to adapt.

Yet colleges are also home to a growing resistance to AI on moral, ethical, and environmental grounds. As longtime edtech consultant Bryan Alexander told me recently on my podcast about AI at colleges, Learning Curve: “Opposition to AI is much stronger than opposition to any other technology I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

Within Jagged Intelligence, I will provide a space where skeptics, proponents, and anyone with mixed feelings can turn to learn about promising experiments and cautionary tales from those using AI at colleges. Sign up today so you don’t miss the first issue when it drops on May 19.

And I’d love to hear from you — your wins, fails (you can stay anonymous if you like), and perspectives. Your feedback will help shape the newsletter. Just shoot me a message at jeff.young@chronicle.com.

I’m thrilled to be back writing for The Chronicle, and for all of you.

Sincerely,

Jeff Young

Newsletter Writer