Higher education is warming up to AI, new survey shows

A growing number of educators view artificial intelligence as a strategic priority, according to a paper published Monday by the nonprofit Educause.

The group’s 2025 AI Landscape Study includes a survey result showing that 57% of educators polled view “AI as a strategic priority,” up from 49% in last year’s poll. While educational leaders are warming up to AI, Educause researchers wrote that institutions still have more work to do in preparing for AI.

Only 22% of survey respondents said their schools had implemented institution-wide AI strategies. Fifty-five percent said AI strategy was being rolled out on an ad-hoc basis in various colleges and departments.

The survey also showed that 34% of educators believe executive leaders at their institutions are underestimating the cost of AI, and only 2% said there are new funding sources for AI projects.

Where AI is being used, teaching and learning came out as the top use case, with the top subgroups in that category being academic integrity, coursework, assessments and curriculum design.

Educause also noted that the responses from small institutions are “remarkably similar” to that of their large counterparts, including their “personal use of AI tools, their motivations for institutional use of AI, and their expectations and optimism about the future of AI..”