How AI is changing college
ASU President Michael Crow says artificial intelligence is the “great equalizer.” Photo by Deanna Dent
Editor's note: This story was featured in the winter 2026 issue of ASU Thrive.
Artificial intelligence is the “great equalizer,” in the words of ASU President Michael Crow.
It’s compelled industries, including higher education, to adapt quickly to keep pace with its rapid advancement. Over the last several years, ASU has launched a range of initiatives to prepare students for an AI economy, using new tools, research and credentials designed to keep those already in the workforce up to date with the job market.
ASU has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in that work, largely from research grants. That money supports studies on medicine, education and sustainability among other topics.
In addition, ASU began a flagship partnership with OpenAI early last year. Since then, the university has supported more than 500 AI projects proposed by faculty and students.
ASU brings AI closer to students
This fall, university officials announced that every ASU student, faculty and staff member would have access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Edu with GPT-5. ASU Chief Information Officer Lev Gonick describes the effort as “democratizing innovation.” Free licenses became available at the start of October. The university’s partnership ensures the data shared with ChatGPT is private and is not used for training the AI system.
Watch ASU President Crow on Bloomberg
In an interview, ASU President Michael M. Crow told the news outlet, “Artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education — from the way teachers assess work to how universities prepare graduates for jobs that don’t yet exist.” He calls AI a “hyperspeed calculator” that forces schools to raise the bar.
Some of the university’s past endeavors include a “Language Buddy” which allows students to practice speaking a second or third language with an AI assistant. Another allows health sciences students to interact with an AI model that mimics real patient interactions.
Anne Jones, an ASU professor and vice provost for undergraduate education, says the university’s goal is to create “master learners,” and AI pushes that mission forward.
“It makes it possible for us to make education more accessible to anyone qualified,” Jones says of ASU’s AI expansion. “We’re going to use it.”
Jones says the university is constantly looking for ways to bring other faculty and students into the push forward. That includes dozens of seminars, guides and an AI Playground that walks users through everything from chatbots to AI research tools.
Is AI use sustainable?
Serious questions remain on how the mass implementation of AI will impact our everyday lives. Many scholars, including several at ASU, have questioned how the use of AI is sustainable given its often overwhelming energy needs. Kyle Bowen, deputy chief information officer for ASU’s Enterprise Technology, said ASU is having those discussions in its labs as well.
One way the university is looking at ways to make AI more sustainable is by providing tools people can use to compare the exact energy and costs associated with their AI use.
“You can pick the most efficient choice and have kind of transparency around, ‘This is what the differences between the models are looking at to what that trade-off between cost and quality is,’” Bowen says.
The university is also researching ways AI can function more efficiently with hopes of tamping down energy use over time.
What is AI upskilling?
As more companies move to cut costs and embrace AI, a competitive job market has stoked long-standing fears that AI could begin taking jobs once done by humans.
Around 40% of employers are expected to downsize their workforce in cases where work can be automated, according to a 2025 report from the World Economic Forum. Some of the most vulnerable jobs center around data entry, scheduling and customer service, according to Forbes.
In response, ASU has launched a portfolio of programs to help people in vulnerable sectors gain new AI skills desired in a modern workforce. The courses touch on AI use in leadership, finance, health care, education, sustainability and several more. They start at $49.
It’s a topic Crow and other leaders have confronted head-on. At a roundtable discussion with several technology leaders and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly this fall, Crow spoke at length about the university’s responsibility to ensure their students were prepared to take on a slew of jobs that don’t yet exist.
“It’s up to the education institutions like ours to stop being innovation laggards and find ways to embrace these technological opportunities,” Crow says. “Because it may be that those companies can’t think about that while they’re building all these kinds of things, but we can.”
About this story
Written by Helen Rummel of The Arizona Republic. Reprinted with permission from The Arizona Republic; edited for length.
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