Mike Friedrichsen: AI makes human judgment a more important part of higher education, not a less important one.
eyesoneurope
Amsterdam, 27 September 2026 — What is a university for when artificial intelligence can produce an answer in seconds?
Mike Friedrichsen of the German University of Digital Science raises that question in a recent reflection on the future of higher education. Universities, he argues, will not succeed simply by becoming more digital. A streamed lecture remains a lecture; putting a PDF on a platform does not, by itself, transform learning.
His argument deserves attention because it shifts the discussion from delivery to purpose. Digital tools can widen access to teaching and research. AI can help people explore ideas and work with information at remarkable speed. But neither can decide whether a source is trustworthy, whether an argument is sound or what consequences a decision may have.
That leaves universities with a demanding task. Students need opportunities to ask better questions, test evidence, live with uncertainty and defend their conclusions. Teachers need the time and freedom to cultivate those abilities. Institutions need to decide how AI can support that work without allowing speed and convenience to define educational quality.
This is also a matter of public interest. Businesses, governments and communities will increasingly depend on graduates who can use powerful tools while exercising independent judgment. Education that produces quick answers but weak judgment would leave them poorly prepared.
Friedrichsen’s central question is therefore a useful one for every university, including those with no claim to be “digital”: if we were founding the university today, what would we build around the human capacity to judge and take responsibility?
Technology may open new possibilities. The measure of a university will be what people learn to do with them.
