AI Governance in Higher Education: Case Studies of Guidance at Big Ten Universities
This addresses the problem of governing responsible AI usage in higher education institutions, focusing on incremental insights from existing guidelines.
The study analyzed AI governance strategies in higher education by examining guidelines from 14 prestigious U.S. universities, identifying multi-unit and role-specific governance approaches and their academic characteristics, with findings offering practical implications for responsible AI usage.
Generative AI has drawn significant attention from stakeholders in higher education. As it introduces new opportunities for personalized learning and tutoring support, it simultaneously poses challenges to academic integrity and leads to ethical issues. Consequently, governing responsible AI usage within higher education institutions (HEIs) becomes increasingly important. Leading universities have already published guidelines on Generative AI, with most attempting to embrace this technology responsibly. This study provides a new perspective by focusing on strategies for responsible AI governance as demonstrated in these guidelines. Through a case study of 14 prestigious universities in the United States, we identified the multi-unit governance of AI, the role-specific governance of AI, and the academic characteristics of AI governance from their AI guidelines. The strengths and potential limitations of these strategies and characteristics are discussed. The findings offer practical implications for guiding responsible AI usage in HEIs and beyond.