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  • NEWS FEATURE

Universities are embracing AI: will students get smarter or stop thinking?

Millions of students arriving at campuses are now using artificial intelligence. Worries abound.
By
  1. Helen Pearson
Cartoon showing two university students with transparent heads with computerised brains inside and the letters "A" and "I" written on their clothes.

Illustration: Fabio Buonocore

When students entered Tsinghua University in Beijing this year, one of the first representatives they met wasn’t a person. Admission letters to the prestigious institution came with an invitation code to an artificial-intelligence agent. The bot is designed to answer students’ questions about courses, clubs and life on campus.

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Nature 646, 788-791 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03340-w

References

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