The AI Window: Moving from Leased Intelligence to Lasting Institutional Capability
Over the past five years, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become core infrastructure in higher education. Unlike past technologies, however, AI is metered, resource-intensive, and increasingly controlled by a small number of vendors. As pricing models evolve and computing constraints intensify, sustained large-scale adoption may become financially and operationally difficult for many institutions. This session challenges the assumption that AI will remain a stable, long-term layer of campus infrastructure. Instead, it reframes AI as a time-limited opportunity to strengthen institutional capability before costs, constraints, and vendor lock-in reshape access. Using a roles-based framework (AI as mentor, coach, teammate), participants will explore how approaches developed for teaching and learning can extend to process improvement, staff development, and organizational strategy. The focus shifts from automation to strengthening human performance and institutional resilience. Participants will learn to distinguish between FLUFF (dependency-building automations) and SPARK (capability-building practices) and leave with practical strategies to make more intentional, sustainable AI decisions.
Presenters
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Mike Harding
Digital Accessibility Coordinator,
California State University, Fresno
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Szymon Machajewski
Director of Academic Systems,
University of Illinois Chicago