90% of higher ed professionals now use AI, suggesting personal adoption is nearing a ceiling (up from 84% year over year). Institutional AI adoption jumped to 66% (from 49% the previous year), signaling a move from experimentation to mainstream integration; 43% say AI is already reflected in their institution's strategic plan, and 88% expect institutional AI use to keep rising over the next two years. Data security and privacy remain the #1 barrier to AI use at both the personal and institutional levels, while concerns about cost and limited understanding of the technology decline year over year. New barriers are emerging: more than 1 in 5 cite environmental impact among top three barriers, and concern about AI-related role elimination doubled to 14%.
