The wave of artificial intelligence sweeping through universities and society

In recent weeks, new features have been introduced in ChatGPT that are particularly interesting for educational work and collaboration. The first is the option for group chats, where up to about 20 people, along with the AI model, can participate in a single conversation. To create a group chat, click the group icon in an existing or new chat, invite colleagues or students via a link, and ChatGPT will create a separate copy of the chat for the group, thereby preserving the privacy of previous individual chats. Group chats are particularly well-suited for collaborative lesson planning, course design, or small student project groups.

Of particular importance to educators is the new ChatGPT for Teachers, a free version of the service designed for teachers and school administrators. In this environment, teachers can use the AI to create lesson plans, assignments, quizzes, and other materials, with data collection, privacy settings, and terms of use tailored to the educational context. In the initial phase, the service is primarily intended for elementary and secondary school teachers in the U.S., specifically from November 19, 2025, through June 2027, but it clearly points the way toward the development of separate, education-tailored AI environments that will be available for free use in teaching, at least during the initial period.

A story from the United Kingdom concerns a programming course at Staffordshire University, where part of the lectures was prepared and presented by generative AI. Students protested, expressing the feeling that they were being deprived of an authentic educational experience and the opportunity for dialogue with a live instructor. The university cites a new policy that allows faculty to use AI in teaching, while strictly limiting the use of the same tools for student assignments. This case raises a key question: where is the line between meaningful AI support and excessive automation of teaching?

Elsewhere in Europe, the tone is more collaborative. Utrecht University is organizing a project titled Generative AI in Education: 2 workshops to collectively envision and shape the future of education, where faculty members from various departments meet in workshops to collaboratively design scenarios for future AI-enabled learning. The goal is not merely to react to challenges, but to actively help shape how AI will be integrated into curricula, assessment, and student support.

Queen’s University in Canada has established a community of practice called Generative AI in Teaching and Learning through its Center for Teaching and Learning. The main event, titled Teaching about AI; Teaching with AI; Teaching despite AI, presents three perspectives: how to teach about AI as a subject, how to teach with AI as a tool, and how to maintain the quality of teaching despite the fact that generative models are already operating in the background of the learning process.

An additional perspective is provided by the article “Office Hours: Faculty on the Implications of Generative AI for Higher Education at Swarthmore College”, in which several professors reflect on how AI is transforming academic writing, analysis, and the learning process itself. Opinions range from highly critical to cautiously open-minded, but the common thread remains that excessive cognitive “outsourcing” of student tasks to AI could jeopardize the essence of higher education.

At the global level, a series of events are taking place that specifically target AI in higher education. Among them, the 2025 International Conference on AI for Higher Education (AI4HE) stands out—a free online conference co-organized by UniSQ and UCSI University that focuses on the topic of Artificial Intelligence for Research (AI4R). The conference brings together researchers, practitioners, and university administrators to discuss how to apply AI in research and teaching.

In Scandinavia, Teach GenAI is a joint initiative of three Danish universities that offers a professional development program for university instructors and an open online course for students on the use of generative AI in academic work. In recent weeks, several online events have been announced on AI-supported feedback and the use of coding assistants in university courses.

The University of Stuttgart is hosting a series of events titled “AI at the University of Stuttgart – Using and Applying It Responsibly”, where senior management and teaching staff are addressing the issue of the responsible and safe use of AI. Topics include usage policies, data confidentiality levels, and the university’s RAI – Responsible AI tool, which is designed to help staff assess risks and opportunities.

The aforementioned British example at Staffordshire University and the discussions at Swarthmore College show that the academic community is simultaneously learning, embracing, questioning, and exploring the boundaries of how far to integrate AI into the core of the educational process.

At the policy level, a public debate is underway on the National Artificial Intelligence Program 2030 (NpUI 2030), led by the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The document outlines the development of research, the economy, the public sector, and human resources, and is based on the European Act on Artificial Intelligence. For universities, this means that AI issues will increasingly be incorporated into strategic documents, study program accreditations, and the expected competencies of graduates.

At the same time, MMC RTV reported on a call for proposals for a national platform for generative AI, which is intended to provide citizens, researchers, businesses, and public administration with free access to AI tools. The government emphasizes requirements regarding security, privacy, and compliance with European regulations. For higher education, this means a potential new “default” infrastructure through which students and staff will access AI tools.

MMC RTV published an article titled When a Video Is No Longer Evidence: ‘Check Elsewhere Before Taking Action’, which highlights the rise of audio and visual deepfakes, ranging from fake calls from a child in distress to fabricated statements by politicians. Slovenian researchers are developing technologies to detect such forgeries, but the report emphasizes that a technological solution alone will not be enough. Media and digital literacy, verifying sources, awareness of the possibility of manipulation, and a healthy dose of skepticism toward viral content are key.

The following events are also taking place in Slovenia during this period: the international conference Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of Artificial Intelligence at DOBA Business School, which focuses on the responsible integration of AI into teaching, learning, and knowledge assessment; the Science Month event “Bioscience and Humans: Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Social Media”, which brings together bioscience, AI, media, and society; and the BIZTOPIX 2025 conference in Portorož, which examines AI from the perspectives of large language models, security, its impact on work, and business models.

In addition to universities and strategic documents, AI is increasingly becoming part of everyday life. In addition to the planned national AI platform in Slovenia and major technological investments in data centers (e.g., Anthropic’s announced 50-billion investment in AI infrastructure in the U.S.), more peripheral yet illustrative stories are also attracting a great deal of attention.

One such example is the EVA AI Café in New York, which bills itself as the world’s first AI dating café. Guests don’t go there for a drink with another person, but rather with their AI partner on the phone. On the one hand, the project fits into the trend of digital intimacy and AI companions; on the other hand, critics warn that such practices blur the line between technology and human relationships and normalize a world in which it is sometimes easier to be in a relationship with an algorithm than with a real person.

In recent weeks, we have been observing the simultaneous expansion of AI into university classrooms, national strategies, regulation, and everyday life—ranging from experimentation with AI-supported lectures and new features in tools such as ChatGPT (group chats, a free version for educators), to discussions about responsible use in healthcare, the economy, and personal relationships. The news indicates that the higher education sector is not a passive observer but an active co-creator of the rules of the game: from communities of practice and conferences to national policies and pilot projects.
For university instructors, these stories can serve as a starting point for critical discussion with students, for reflecting on future forms of assignments and assessment, and for considering where we want to bring AI closer to the core of learning in our courses and where to maintain a greater distance.

Authors: Eva Kern Nanut, Eva Škraba, Sanja Jedrinović Čufer, Mateja Bevčič, University of Ljubljana Center for the use of ICT in pedagogical process