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AI and the boardroom: Why trustees must lead with intention in the age of artificial intelligence

Oct. 1, 2025 · Authored by Daniel Greenstein

Introduction: Higher education boards at a crossroads

Boards of trustees are accustomed to facing existential questions. For decades, higher education has navigated enrollment volatility, shifting demographics, tightening budgets, public skepticism and growing demands for accountability. Now a new force is reshaping the landscape with unusual speed and scale: artificial intelligence (AI).

In conversation after conversation, trustees ask a version of the same question: “What should we be doing about AI?” This insight offers a governance road map – assumptions to ground the conversation, questions to guide oversight and practical disciplines that keep AI tied to mission, not hype. It is not a technical manual; it’s a board-level guide for responsible, enterprise-wide engagement.

Four assumptions every board should make

1. AI is here to stay.
Attempts to wall off AI will fail. Banning it for student use in learning or creating “AI-free zones,” and falling back on proctored blue-book exams may create temporary pockets of resistance, but they won’t outlast the technology’s diffusion into everyday life. Students are already using AI tools; faculty and staff are experimenting, often without formal guardrails. Employers are signaling that AI fluency is a workplace expectation. Begin with the premise that AI is not going away. The question is not whether to engage but how.

2. Technology will improve.
Today’s systems are highly imperfect. They hallucinate, reflect bias and sometimes fail at complex reasoning. But betting against the trajectory of digital technology is unwise. Successive generations of AI are likely to become faster, cheaper and more capable. Expect substantial advances in the potential for AI-assisted tutoring, feedback, translation, student and research support and back-office automation to name but a few functions. Plan for the inevitability of improvement.