Modernizing education with artificial intelligence is less about buying this or that new tool than about new processes, new applications for data analytics, and reorganizing instructional priorities around new norms. For generations, education has revolved around classrooms, textbooks and static curricula. But today’s learners are rewriting the rules. By August 2024, over 86 percent of collegiate, master’s and doctoral students were using artificial intelligence in their studies, and more than half were using AI tools weekly, according to a study by the Digital Education Council, a global community of college and university stakeholders that formed that year. Gen Z and younger learners increasingly expect education to look and feel like the digital experiences they already use: short, visual, interactive and on demand. For government leaders and educational institutions, that shift brings both urgency and opportunity. The question isn’t whether AI will reshape learning, it’s how quickly schools, agencies and public programs can adapt to meet these new expectations.
