AI and the crisis of legitimacy in higher education

Abstract

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) within higher education raises many questions regarding the purpose of higher education, given that many core competencies, such as reading comprehension, writing essays, and taking exams, can now be outsourced to AI. This article states that the rise of AI, along with the waiving of college degree requirements for jobs and the demographic enrollment cliff, produce challenges to the legitimacy of the higher education system. I use Habermas’ framework of legitimation crisis and Collins’ framework of credential inflation and social closure to theorize the effects of AI and changes in the broader political economy on the higher education system.