We now live in what I call the atmosphere of cognition: not the disappearance of AI, but its absorption into the invisible architectures of institutional life. Like Wi-Fi, AI is no longer a tool at the margins but the infrastructure of thought. Algorithms now shape admissions. Predictive models determine financial aid. Recommendation engines curate research. Plagiarism detectors and manuscript filters run silently in the background. To speak of ‘using AI’ in 2025 is like debating whether universities should install electricity. This is not simply a technical evolution. It is civilisational. The printing press multiplied texts, but students still thought alone. The internet digitised knowledge, but students still wrote in their own words. MOOCs disrupted delivery but not learning itself. AI is different. It entwines itself with cognition.
