Tag: unwritten rules

Generic AI cannot capture higher education’s unwritten rules

Admin Leave a comment
Five academics, dressed in business attire, are seated around a chess board on a wooden table in a traditional library, with books and papers. Above them, a large holographic screen displays 'AI - UNWRITTEN RULES: ACCESS DENIED' and 'CONTEXTUAL NUANCE: UNA'ILABLE', surrounded by data. Two thought bubbles above the central figure read 'HUMAN SHARED UNDERSTAIN' and 'SHARE 'ID UNDERSTANHINP'. The scene symbolizes AI's inability to grasp the subtle, unwritten rules of higher education. Generated by Nano Banana.
While AI excels at processing explicit data, it fundamentally struggles to grasp the nuanced, ‘unwritten rules’ that govern higher education. This image illustrates the critical gap where generic AI falls short in understanding the complex social, cultural, and contextual intricacies that define the true academic experience, highlighting the irreplaceable value of human intuition and shared understanding. Image (and typos) generated by Nano Banana.

Source

Wonkhe

Summary

Kurt Barling argues that universities operate not only through formal policies but via tacit, institution-specific norms—corridor conversations, precedents, traditions—that generic AI cannot perceive or replicate. Deploying off-the-shelf AI tools risks flattening institutional uniqueness, eroding identity and agency. He suggests universities co-design AI tools that reflect their values, embed nuance, preserve institutional memory, and maintain human oversight. Efficiency must not come at the cost of hollowing out culture, or letting external systems dictate how universities function.

Key Points

  • Universities depend heavily on tacit norms and culture—unwritten rules that guide decisions and practices.
  • Generic AI, based on broad datasets, flattens nuance and treats institutions as interchangeable.
  • If universities outsource decision-making to black-box systems, they risk losing identity and governance control.
  • A distributed “human-assistive AI” approach is preferable: systems that suggest, preserve memory, and stay under human supervision.
  • AI adoption must not sacrifice culture and belonging for efficiency; sector collaboration is needed to build tools aligned with institutional values.

Keywords

, , , , ,

URL

https://wonkhe.com/blogs/generic-ai-cannot-capture-higher-educations-unwritten-rules/

Summary generated by ChatGPT 5

GenAI News