Unfixed: How AI Is Reshaping the University

In this episode of Unfixed, Nik and Zach unpack the “enforcement illusion” behind AI use policies in higher education. From the impossibility of a true “no-AI” classroom to the cultural gap between faculty and students, they argue why cultivating dispositions, transparency, and dialogue offers a more meaningful path than rigid rules in the age of generative AI.

Note: Dear listener please forgive the substandard audio. We had a technical malfunction during the recording of this episode.

Zach Justus and Nik Janos, Inside Higher Ed, Your AI Policy is Already Obsolete

Nik Janos, Melts into Air, Tools and Brains: UX For Assignments 

Zach Justus, Melts into Air, ChatGPT in a Writing Class

Zach Justus, Melts into Air, ChatGPT: A Classroom Update

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

Zach and Nik brings you the biggest AI-in-education headlines shaping higher ed this fall—from ChatGPT’s new Study Mode and Canvas integrations to Microsoft’s agents, Big Tech partnerships, and Grammarly’s AI grade oracle.

OpenAI ChatGPT Study Mode

Instructure: Canvas ChatGPT integration

Microsoft Copilot Agent

LA Times: Big Tech as Savior

Reuters: Google Pledges Over $1 Billion for AI Training

Grammarly, What Grade Will I Get?

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

In this episode of Unfixed, we talk with Ray Schroeder—Senior Fellow at UPCEA and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois Springfield—about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and what it means for the future of higher education. While most of academia is still grappling with ChatGPT and basic AI tools, Schroeder is thinking ahead to AI agents, human displacement, and AGI’s existential implications for teaching, learning, and the university itself. We explore why AGI is so controversial, what institutions should be doing now to prepare, and how we can respond responsibly—even while we’re already overwhelmed.

Ray Shroeder, Uncharted Territory: Artificial General Intelligence and Higher Ed

Ray Shroeder, Higher Education in 2025: AGI Agents to Displace People

Ray Shroeder Online Learning

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

In this episode of Unfixed, “Ready for a Fight?”, we explore the growing resistance to generative AI in higher education. While we don’t adopt the “Fight AI” stance ourselves, we take it seriously—as a revealing response to the rapid automation of knowledge work. Drawing from educators, artists, organizers, and labor movements, we unpack what motivates this rejection of AI, what it’s defending, and where it might lead. Featuring references to union actions, institutional policy shifts, and structural critiques of tech power, this episode sheds light on the values and vulnerabilities animating the pushback.

Melts into Air, What does it mean to fight AI?

Melts into Air, Will General Artificial Intelligence Replace Me?

Karen Hao, Empire of AI

Cant, Muldoon, and Graham, Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labor Powering A.I.

California Faculty Association  

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

AI is reshaping every level of education—but K–12 and higher ed often feel worlds apart. In this episode, we talk with Teach Smarter podcast hosts Stephanie Dinnen and Pete Siner about how generative AI is transforming K–12 schools, the evolving challenges across grade levels, and what higher education needs to understand about the next generation of AI-native students.

Stephanie Dinnen is an implementation specialist, supporting districts and schools in building MTSS frameworks for literacy, math and SEL. She is a psychiatric researcher turned K-12 educator and a military spouse advocate.

Pete Siner is a former teacher and educational consultant who helps schools use AI to strengthen Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction, support SEL, and build sustainable systems across traditional, CTE, and alternative settings. He hosts the Teach Smarter podcast and will present at ISTE 2025 on how AI can save teachers time without adding complexity.

Teach Smarter, teachsmarteredu.com

Stephanie Dinnen, @mrsdinnenreads, www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniedinnen

Pete Siner, https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-s-75580490/

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

Advising is part mentorship, part logistics—and often a confusing mess. In this episode, we explore how AI might help (or hurt) students and advisors trying to navigate course selection, degree requirements, and policy mazes. We share what happened when we built our own advising bot and tested it in the wild. Could this be the future of student support, or just another edtech fantasy? With special guest Jamie Gunderson.

Josh Farris and Chi Chan, Guiding First-Generation Students to Success

Lauren Coffey, An AI Boost for Academic Advising

Liam Knox, The (AI) Counselor Is in

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

In this episode of Unfixed, we unpack the mounting pressures that are destabilizing higher education. From the looming enrollment cliff and partisan political attacks to the unresolved trauma of COVID-19 and the disruptive arrival of generative AI, universities are being pulled in multiple, often contradictory, directions. Nik and Zach explore how these forces intersect to create what they call the “insecure university.” What does it mean to learn, teach, and lead in institutions struggling to justify their very existence?

Inside Higher Ed, “College-age demographics begin steady projected decline”

Rufo in City Journal

Venkatesh Rao, “Knowledge Under Siege” (cooked with AI)”

Nils Gilman on Theory of Change podcast

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

Generative AI is upending higher education but can the university keep up? In this episode, we explore why institutional change in academia is so slow, even as AI accelerates disruptions across academic integrity, tenure, curriculum, and writing. From campus bureaucracy to the post-COVID pivot, we ask: what happens if we don’t adapt? And what would it take to respond differently, before the university becomes obsolete?

Mark Carrigan, Are Universities Too Slow to Cope With Generative AI?

Melts into Air, Thoughts on the First AI-Powered University

Seb Murray, Business Schools Ease Their Resistance to AI

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

In this episode of Unfixed, we unpack Chico State’s recent ChatGPT rollout and what it reveals about the CSU system’s broader AI strategy. Why are universities centralizing AI adoption? What’s at stake for faculty, students, and the future of higher ed? We explore institutional motivations, equity and sustainability concerns, vendor influence, and the disconnect between AI hype and on-the-ground realities.

Nik Janos, Thoughts on the First AI-powered University

Rob Nelson, What is an AI-empowered University

Rob Nelson, Alignment Problem

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing at meltsintoair.org

In this special breaking-news episode of Unfixed, Nik and Zach dive into urgent headlines warning that AI could eliminate millions of entry-level white-collar jobs. They unpack what this means for students, the public perception of higher education, and what colleges must do now to stay relevant. Featuring insights from Kevin Roose, Dario Amodei, Hard Fork, and more, the episode explores how universities can reposition themselves in an era of accelerating automation and economic uncertainty.

Kevin Roose, For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here - The New York Times

Jim VanderHei and Mike Allen, Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath

Artificial Intelligence coverage from Axios

Hard Fork, The A.I. Jobpocalypse, Building at Anthropic with Mike Krieger and Hard Fork Crimes Division - The New York Times

Thoughts and suggestions? Email us at [email protected]

You can find the full show notes and our writing a meltsintoair.org