Reclaiming Purpose

CHAPTER 1When the World Changed

Renting an apartment in Paris for part of the year, reading late into the evening, spending time with a soon-to-arrive grandchild, and more time with my wife, Pat, writing a new book—these were on my how-to-spend-my-sabbatical-year list of possibilities for when I would finally step down from the presidency of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) in June 2024. It had been a great twenty-one-year run working with my team to create the country's largest university, with two hundred and fifty thousand students enrolled, serving student populations too often neglected by traditional higher education, and inventing new models of education along the way. But it was time to assume the more contemplative and measured role of scholar, thinker, and writer.

Then November 2022 happened. OpenAI released Chat GPT to the public and the world changed overnight.

Like most people, my initial exploration of artificial intelligence (AI) for the masses began playfully. At a holiday dinner party, my laptop sat at the end of the table like a strange guest, and we asked ChatGPT to write about higher education in the form of a Shakespeare sonnet, then in the style of e.e. cummings, then with the voice of a 1930s gangster. We asked it to outline a three-day itinerary for an upcoming trip to New York, adding our preferences for museums, cuisine, and theater. Its responses were uncanny in their speed, responsiveness, and detail. In subsequent days, I asked it to design ...