Efforts to “get on the artificial intelligence bandwagon” are not paying off for universities, with institutions being urged to “take a step back” before rushing to make more investments in new technologies.

A lot of the money being spent on AI currently is being spent “badly”, according to Cameron Mirza, an official at Jordan’s International Research and Exchanges Board.

“We are now at a point in AI, particularly around generative AI, where we are at the trough of disillusionment,” he told 51�Թ�’s Arab Universities Summit in Jordan.

“We have had a lot of hype about AI, but some of the reality is kicking in. We talk a lot about AI slop. We’re talking about the fact that, actually, with the free versions of AI, a lot of information is not accurate. We’re seeing hallucinations and therefore, these are extra challenges that need to be thought about.”

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He warned that universities’ “fear of missing out” could be leading to rushed decisions and institutions need to instead “really focus on doing the fundamentals”.

“Everyone wants to get on the AI bandwagon. Which is to be applauded, but it needs to be done in a more considered, thoughtful, pragmatic way.”

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Universities further needed to consider the financial sustainability of their AI models, which Mirza said was often being overlooked. 

“AI is not free,” he told delegates at Al-Ahliyya Amman University. “It costs, and therefore the question is how do you sustainably finance your AI Investments, not just for today, but for the next five, 10 years. Where is the thinking around sustainable financing for this?”

Mirza said he would be “shocked” if “any university was able to tell me what their return on investment” for AI was, “or even tell me what the business case would be for implementing AI across their institution, so I do think we need to take a step back”.

Manal Jalloul, founder and chief executive officer at the AI Lab, said Arab universities needed to introduce AI literacy courses for students to “democratise” the technology. She said if Arab universities wanted to be “superior [and lead the AI revolution” they need ambitious policies to help students evolve. 

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However, she added: “Perhaps universities suffer from the long cycles of curriculum review...technology is advancing so quickly. One moment we talk about LLMs, and next we have something else. Things are progressing really fast, and universities perhaps find it hard to keep up with it to offer what the job market needs.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com