It’s hard to ignore that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of our everyday lives. AI is at work when we use facial recognition to access our smartphones, when Siri or Microsoft automatically completes a word or a sentence, or when Amazon or Netflix makes personalized recommendations. Universities are embracing AI in numerous ways, including assistance with curriculum development, meeting student accessibility needs, and streamlining admissions screening. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a tech expert or a computer programmer to use AI, because there are many user-friendly tools that can help university risk managers and other leaders be more efficient and effective in their jobs. Here are just a few examples of ways AI can lighten the load based on my own user experience.
Policy Creation and Revision
Creating a new institutional policy from scratch can be an overwhelming task. A tool like Google Gemini can gather similar policies by searching other universities’ websites, scanning each of these documents, and then summarizing the findings. Gemini will explain what the policies have in common, how they are different, and highlight any potential policy gaps. It can then suggest a draft policy outline based on these findings.
AI can also support policy revision. During insurance renewal, insurers may require policy updates to align with their standards. AI can compare existing policies against those requirements and draft a revised version accordingly.
Data Analysis
Risk managers and other leaders may need to review lengthy reports and data. NotebookLM is a powerful AI tool that can quickly digest large amounts of information and provide different types of summaries, depending on the need. It can condense hundreds of pages into a succinct briefing doc. It can turn the data into a podcast where two hosts discuss the information in an easy-to-understand format, or the information can be turned into a streamlined presentation.
For institutions that have adopted Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), tools like Gemini can be used to analyze their risk registers. The tool can provide themes, group risks into categories, and suggest gaps based on emerging risks.
Conversation Transcription
Many institutional leaders participate in conversations where critical information must be collected. AI transcription tools can record discussions and create a transcript and a summary. Zoom AI Companion can help with virtual conversations. For in-person meetings, readily available tools like Microsoft Word’s dictate function can assist.
These tools are particularly helpful for accident/incident review committees, as they can quickly search recorded testimony to locate specific statements, thereby speeding up investigations.
The value of AI reaches well beyond any one department. For trustees and administrators, AI tools present an opportunity to drive operational efficiency and elevate the quality of decision-making. Here are key areas where AI can make a measurable difference for boards and trustees:
Monitoring Reputational Risk
Controversies can impact a university’s brand in a matter of minutes. Trustees and administrators can use Google to set up alerts on a particular term, phrase, or topic. These alerts can monitor news headlines, blogs, and the general internet, providing updates at various frequencies–once a day, once a week, or immediately.
Data Analysis
Boards and trustees review volumes of information, including board packets, audit reports, strategic plans, and financial summaries and statements. A tool like Google Gemini can scan this information, provide executive summaries, suggest the most important areas of focus, and flag potential concerns.
Benchmarking
By leveraging publicly available rankings, enrollment data, and financial reports, trustees and administrators can use Gemini to conduct peer comparisons and gain insights on how to anticipate disruption, allocate financial resources strategically, and demonstrate governance and accountability.
Monitoring Compliance and Legal Vulnerabilities
Higher education is highly regulated (Title IX, Clery Act, ADA compliance, NCAA regulations, federal grant compliance, etc.). Tools such as Google Alerts can monitor federal and state legislative databases and send notifications about new or upcoming regulatory changes that could affect the institution's legal standing.
AI should be used as an assistant, but not as the editor and creator-in-chief.
A Few Words of Caution
AI is not perfect. It can generate mistaken or completely fabricated information. A recent example of this is Mata v. Avianca, Inc., in which the plaintiff’s attorneys used AI to generate a legal motion containing fake legal cases, fabricated quotes, and citations. There should always be a human in the loop–anything generated by AI should always be reviewed and checked for accuracy. AI should be used as an assistant, but not as the editor and creator-in-chief.
AI is not always private. AI tools, especially free versions (e.g., free ChatGPT), are not private. Often, user prompts and shared information are used to train AI models. AI tools with enhanced security are those offered as part of an enterprise software solution, such as Microsoft Copilot or Gemini Enterprise. These tools are designed for business, education, and government use—with strict data privacy, security, and compliance controls—and they don’t use customer data to train models. Be sure to check the security of any AI tool.
AI is not confidential. Never use AI to evaluate confidential data. Don’t input sensitive data (FERPA, HIPAA, PII, etc.) into AI models. Only use publicly available information or redacted documents.
AI can help streamline processes and free institutional leaders to focus on higher-order priorities. With a little practice and a lot of common sense, AI can become an invaluable tool to make smarter risk decisions. By prioritizing data privacy and maintaining human oversight, risk managers, trustees, and administrators can safely harness AI to reduce administrative burdens and elevate institutional effectiveness.