Copyright

Anand Padmanabhan

Published On

2026-05-15

Language

  • English

Print Length

10 pages

THEMA

  • UY
  • QDTQ
  • KJ
  • JPP
  • KJG
  • YPMT

BISAC

  • COM004000
  • PHI005000
  • SOC071000
  • BUS070030
  • EDU039000

Keywords

  • artificial intelligence
  • AI ethics
  • intelligent systems
  • machine learning
  • AI impact
  • moral responsibility

6. From Reaction to Strategy

Navigating the AI Paradox in Higher Education

  • Anand Padmanabhan (author)
Chapter of: The Unbearable Light(ness) of AI: Bright Promises and Hidden Shadows of Artificial Intelligence

This chapter explores higher education’s transition from reacting to generative AI as an issue to approaching it as a strategic institutional challenge. It argues that the central question is not simply adoption, but whether AI will be used to strengthen learning or merely to improve efficiency and administrative scale. The chapter examines key concerns, including deskilling, surveillance, and the risk of reducing education to a logistics-driven enterprise. It proposes a human-centred framework for AI implementation grounded in readiness, governance, and delivery, with particular attention to data stewardship, faculty capacity, equity, accessibility, and institutional guardrails. The chapter concludes that higher education must ensure AI serves as a tool for critical inquiry, creativity, and student support rather than becoming an invisible force that weakens trust, agency, and the core educational mission.

Contributors

Anand Padmanabhan

(author)
Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Fordham University

Anand Padmanabhan is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Fordham University, New York, where he oversees the university’s IT vision, strategy, as well as the university's research computing. As a visionary CIO, Anand brings a rare blend of business acumen, cultural intelligence, and values-driven leadership to complex organisations. A published researcher, Anand's current research focuses on gender gaps in STEM, examining how pedagogy influences self-efficacy and persistence among first- and second-year undergraduates. Anand has more than two decades of technology leadership, having served as CIO at five universities, including NYU Stern, as corporate CIO for a $9 billion revenue IT services firm, and as global CTO for a $680 million (series B) education start-up. He advises EdTech start-ups and serves on Microsoft, Zoom, AWS, and Knack’s higher education advisory boards. He has received Top 100 CIO awards in both the United States and India and is listed in New York State's 2025 Who's Who in Emerging Technologies. Anand holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, an MS in Computer Engineering from Louisiana State University, and a BE from Madras University.