Campus Technology

According to TDWI Research's new 2026 Blueprint report, the main divide between enterprises getting broad business value from AI and those still stuck in pilots is not simply model choice. It is the condition of the data foundation beneath those AI systems. The report is titled, "TDWI Blueprint Report | Building an AI-Ready Data Foundation," authored by Fern Halper, Ph.D., TDWI vice president of research.

Walk into almost any cabinet meeting, faculty senate, or technology committee at a college or university today, and you'll hear the same conversation: How do we use AI? Which tools do we pilot first? How do we write an acceptable-use policy? How do we train faculty and staff? These are reasonable questions. But there's a more fundamental one that often gets skipped — and it may be the most important question of all. Is our data ready? It sounds simple. It isn't.

One of cybersecurity's most difficult challenges has always been finding vulnerabilities before attackers do. A growing number of security professionals now say artificial intelligence is changing that equation, shifting the focus from discovering flaws to fixing them quickly enough to prevent exploitation.

Organizations may be underestimating the actual cost of generative AI as they move from experimentation to production, according to Gartner's "10 Best Practices for Optimizing Generative and Agentic AI Costs" report. "Organizations transitioning from GenAI pilots to production experience a rude awakening when it comes to costs," Gartner researchers found.

Imagine: A hiring manager is interviewing a promising Gen Z candidate for an entry-level position. This student relied heavily on AI to write their essays in college. The candidate demonstrates familiarity with how to effectively leverage AI tools, which is critical to the role, but when the manager asks the candidate to assess an AI output, the candidate struggles. We assume Gen Z should be both AI-native and critical thinkers, but many are headed toward only having the former.

At its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple introduced Siri AI, a redesigned version of its voice assistant that Apple describes in its own announcement as "a profoundly more capable and personal assistant." The update is intended to make Siri more conversational, more context-aware, and more useful across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. The announcement is less a product flourish than a course correction.

Microsoft has moved its Discovery platform into general availability, calling the service a production-ready environment for scientists and researchers that want to apply AI agents. The platform is designed to help coordinate data analysis, hypothesis generation, experimentation, and knowledge management through a collection of specialized AI agents.

For higher education IT teams working through AI pilots, ERP integrations, student-facing apps, analytics projects, and mounting security concerns, Visual Studio Live! San Diego 2026 offers a look at development practices that are shaping the campus technology landscape. Scheduled for Sept. 14–18 in San Diego, the conference centers on Microsoft technologies, with sessions covering .NET, Azure, GitHub, AI development, data platforms, cloud architecture, application security, and more.

Financial aid offices have been slow to adopt AI, risking technological stagnation at a critical early student touchpoint. Systematic AI integration can improve student experiences and strengthen institutional positioning. As a financial aid administrator, I was immediately intrigued when AI became mainstream by its potential to transform our work. I participated in countless meetings, training sessions, and roundtables with colleagues across the industry.

OpenAI is reportedly developing a desktop application that would combine several of its emerging AI products into a single platform, according to reports, marking the latest step in the company's effort to transform ChatGPT from a standalone chatbot into a broader productivity and automation environment.