By Paul Nyhan
Publication Date: 2026-01-21 16:00:00
As AI transforms the way we work, live and learn, higher education is more than just another player – it must lead the way.
Higher education must strike a balance to prepare the next generation for a world reshaped by AI. It must teach students new and necessary AI skills while remaining true to the mission that has guided it for centuries: to promote critical thinking, communication and human values.
And everything has to happen faster.
These are key messages from a new book called “Degrees of Change: What AI Means for Education and the Next Generation” by Juan M. Lavista Ferres, who leads Microsoft’s AI Economy Institute and is director of the company’s AI for Good Lab.
“First, we need to equip people with the skills they need to use AI effectively – a crucial step to ensuring its widespread adoption,” writes Lavista Ferres. “Second, and even more profoundly, we need to understand how AI itself is transforming education as a whole.”
Here are four ways Lavista…
