This is a bit off-beat from the usual stories here on 11W, but I wonder what will be the fate of college and university campuses world-wide with the tsunami of Artificial Intelligence (AI) rushing our way.

An interesting and seminal article on the impact of AI on future education is included here. A couple of statements were jarring, to say the least:

...The remaining jobs will involve fewer routine tasks. The people doing that work will still need some education beyond high school. But they may not have as much need to attend classes at, or even live on, a physical university campus. Colleges that are outside the very top tier of quality and name recognition – and those that have taken on large amounts of debt to build physical facilities – will suffer as demand for their services lessens...

...Another factor challenging universities’ existence is the rapidly rising cost of a traditional college education. So far, in the U.S. demand for degrees from residential colleges has remained high because government-backed loans are easy to get. But student loan debt in the U.S. has reached US$1.45 trillion – and as many as 20 percent of borrowers may not be earning enough to pay them back.

Naturally, an adjunct question involves what will happen to major college sports as we know them. If THE Ohio State University becomes a cobweb-and ivy-covered ruin, will there still be a Horseshoe and a football team to play in it?

The future is coming quickly. Are we ready for it?