AI² Summit highlights urgency, opportunity of AI in higher education

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept for higher education. It is already reshaping how students learn, how faculty teach and how institutions operate.

That was the message that set the tone for the AI² Summit 2026, hosted by the University of Florida AI² Center, which brought nearly 480 educators, technologists and academic leaders to Orlando from March 29 to April 1.

Opening the summit, Chris Malachowsky, co-founder of NVIDIA and a UF engineering alumnus, framed AI as an unavoidable and transformative force already changing how people learn and work.

“Anything that’s a task is going to get automated,” he said, emphasizing that universities must adapt by focusing less onroutine knowledge delivery and more on skills like critical thinking, judgment and the ability to manage AI tools. The four-day summit featured expert-led sessions, hands-on workshops and collaborative discussions designed to help institutions move from early experimentation to meaningful integration of AI across campuses. Topics ranged from foundational concepts and ethics to practical classroom applications, with an emphasis on equipping faculty with tools they can use immediately.

For Hans van Oostrom, director of the AI² Center, the scope of participation underscored the growing demand for guidance.

“I’m really happy with the sort of broadness of our audience,” van Oostrom said. “We have 39 states and 10 countries representing 129 institutions, which is broader than we had last year.”

That mixture reflects a shared challenge across higher education.

“We are one university. We like to be an example for others,” van Oostrom said. “But that doesn’t mean people need to copy exactly what we’re doing. There’s a lot of conversation around what we need and how we’re going to implement that at our own institutions.”

A recurring theme throughout the summit was the need to build a formal framework for AI education, rather than relying on informal or self-taught approaches.

“If we are all self-taught, then we don’t have any formal education or foundation,” van Oostrom said. “And we really need that.”

Attendees said the event offered both validation and practical direction as they navigate rapid change.

Troy Vingom, CIO and assistant vice president for information technology at Kutztown University, said he attended to explore strategies for integrating AI across campus. He said faculty are apprehensive because they worry students may rely on AI instead of learning, while students fear job displacement.

“Our students need to understand and apply AI to be successful,” Vingom said. “We should be teaching them to use AI in whatever field they go into. It’s not a replacement but an enabler.”

Jesse Mendez, provost and executive vice president at Kansas State University, said the pace of AI development makes collaboration essential.

“Talking to folks here, I realize we’re all struggling in how best to move forward,” Mendez said. “AI technology changes every two weeks. The best thing about meetings like this one designed by the University of Florida is that we can learn from each other.”

Mendez pointed to sessions on transdisciplinary AI strategies as particularly useful, noting that universities must adapt ideas to their own institutional contexts in both research and teaching.

In the classroom, educators are also working to ensure that core elements of learning are not lost as AI tools become more common. In a session on writing instruction, presenters emphasized the importance of maintaining student voice and critical thinking.

“We need to communicate to students our expectations around using AI in ways that support learning and developing their judgment to use AI appropriately,” said Heather Maness, assistant director for learning, analytics and assessment at UF.

Even as institutions work through those challenges, Malachowsky said the trajectory is clear. AI will become so embedded in everyday life that it fades into the background.

“The future is: we stop talking about AI,” he said. “It becomes an underlying mechanism behind everything.”

For now, he urged universities not to hesitate.

“We can’t talk ourselves out of this,” Malachowsky said. “If you ignore it, you’re going to lose. If you master it, the opportunities are almost limitless.”