AI Enters Education: Are We the Architects or the Afterthoughts?

Walter McKenzie
Sep 11
2 min read

Artificial intelligence is no longer a horizon - it’s the foundation. But how we frame it will define its role: catalyst or crutch.

1) Greece and OpenAI launch ChatGPT Edu across schools

On September 5, 2025, Greece signed a landmark MoU with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT Edu - a version tailored for academic contexts - into secondary education, while offering startups in health, education, climate, and public sectors access to OpenAI’s tools and credits. Greece positions itself at the front of education innovation, coupling AI literacy with national startup support.

2) Duke University pilots AI in education with “DukeGPT” access

Since June, Duke has enabled all undergraduates and professional students to access ChatGPT‑4o and its own “DukeGPT” - a secure, institution-run AI tool. Faculty are split: some embrace AI cautiously, others steer back toward oral and in‑class testing to uphold academic integrity. The university’s Provost Initiative will assess AI’s impact and deliver recommendations by fall semester’s end.

3) Australia turns to oral exams to outsmart ChatGPT cheating

Australian universities - led by the University of South Australia’s Dr. Chris Della Vedova - are reviving viva voce (oral assessments) to counter AI cheating. These 20-minute one-on-one exams let instructors probe understanding in real time. Students initially anxious, have come to prefer this format and international students benefit from verbal clarifications.

What Leaders Must Own Now

Policy as architecture, not placeholder. Greece shows how to integrate AI deliberately, not expressly.
Assess understanding, not AI application. Duke’s approach is a model: embrace tools, but examine intent.
Rekindle human interaction. Australia reminds us that teaching is relational. AI can’t publish, but you still must.

Bottom Line

AI isn’t the solution - it’s the mirror. It reflects our design choices and gaps. If we don’t define the architecture first - our commitments, not just our tools - AI will fill in with defaults. Convenience over clarity. Substitution over depth.

We must insist on integrity, inclusion, and agency - before innovation.

Also in the News:

IIIT‑Hyderabad gives AI voice to tribal languages

IIIT‑Hyderabad developed AI-powered TTS tools for tribal languages like Santali, Mundari, Bhili, and soon Gondi, with translation systems too, making education and government content accessible in low-resource tongues.

SRM Institute in India builds future-ready curriculum

SRM Institute of Science and Technology is redesigning legal and leadership education -integrating AI, sustainability, and policy to ready students for global complexity with real-world, interdisciplinary learning.

Preply fuses AI and real tutors in language learning

Preply’s hybrid model blends AI with human tutors to personalize language instruction. 97% of learners valued human interaction, and one-third advanced a CEFR level in 12 weeks - reinforcing synergy, not substitution.

Girish C. Ballolla is the founder and CEO of Gen Next Education, providing strategic expertise and tactical coordination to help universities advance their global reach, impact, and visibility. He works across industries and has experience with educational institutions and non-profits, start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. This piece was originally posted September 9, 2025, and is cross-posted here with his permission. You can reach Girish directly via email here.