Abstract
Generative AI – a Threat or an Opportunity for Universities 2 S hudders have been sweeping globally through the education system recently, touching the very core of academic activity. At international conferences, principals and academic staff are asking themselves, and each other, similar questions about examinations and the content of courses. There has always been an awareness that pupils and students can cheat on their assignments. Plagiarism and the use of writers from other countries are examples of the deceitfulness that has been feared. Teachers have tried to curb cheating by appealing to morality, describing how to make references correctly and clarifying where the line falls between using other people's texts and plagiarism. Tools such as " Ouriginal " are currently used to match and detect text theft. However, several months ago, teachers around the world were left dumbfounded. The company OpenAI introduced the ChatGPT tool at the end of 2022. It is an entirely open website where all kind of questions can be submitted. This means that, entirely for free, you can get a reasoning text on the effects of the French Revolution on class society, a clear explanation of Einstein's theory of rela tivity or the answers to a full math test with a comprehensive account of how the solutions were worked out – everything thought out and explained by a machine. The responses within the school and university world were immediate. Some concluded that selfstudies and assignments are now a thing of the past. There were fears there could be no more essays, dissertations or any examinations near to a connected computer. Was this the end of traditional examination methods built on the idea of the essence of higher education: reasoning, argumentation and deduction, to be replaced by proposing examination methods with total supervision: room tests and oral exams? 1 Prof. Lars Strannegård – President, Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden); Chair, Global Alliance for Management Education (CEMS); email: Lars.Strannegard@hhs.se; ORCID: 0000000295371984. 2 This text is an expanded and adapted version of an essay that appeared in " Dagens Nyheter " 18.01.2023.