Hani Shehada, a special commentator for CGTN, is a regional manager at Education Above All Foundation's Al Fakhoora Program. He works on global interventions that provide access to higher education for young people whose futures have been disrupted by war and injustice. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
Artificial intelligence is not knocking politely on the door of higher education; it is kicking it wide open. What we thought would take decades is happening in just a few years. In some cases, in months. Universities that stood for centuries as the ultimate gatekeepers of knowledge are now watching that monopoly evaporate in real time. Here lies the irony: the very institutions that claim to prepare us for the future are themselves unprepared for the speed at which the future is arriving. And that forces us to ask a deeper question: What were universities for in the first place?
