State of AI · October 2026

Where campuses are with AI.

Published campus surveys and documented use cases from six countries, put on one scale. Most campuses are using AI; few have been shown how, and fewer still are measuring it.

36
Published campus surveys
73,000
Students in the CCSSE 2025 cohort
2,574
Documented campus use cases
Fig. 1 · Trying it vs relying on it

Most have tried AI. Far fewer use it every week.

Share reporting any use of AI for work or study, against those using it weekly or more. Staff who use it tend to use it often; for students and faculty, regular use is a minority.

Most have tried AI. Far fewer use it every week.
StudentsUse AI at all: 52%, Weekly or more: 18%
FacultyUse AI at all: 74%, Weekly or more: 32%
StaffUse AI at all: 50%, Weekly or more: 47%
Source: 21 published campus surveys, 2023–2026: seven each of students (4,157 people), faculty (1,146) and staff (2,544), from the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Any use is the typical (median) survey; weekly use is pooled across respondents.
Fig. 2 · What worries them

The top worry is people thinking less.

Share naming each concern. The bar runs from the lowest to the highest survey; the dot is the typical one. Privacy depends heavily on who is asked.

The top worry is people thinking less.
Over-reliance, less thinking85–92%, typical 89%
Cheating and integrity72–87%, typical 80%
Ethical concerns73–80%, typical 77%
Inaccurate output39–80%, typical 64%
Privacy and security17–64%, typical 41%
No institutional guidance23–27%, typical 25%
Environmental impact14–26%, typical 20%
Source: The four US campus surveys that asked about concerns, 2025–2026.
Fig. 3 · Where the gap is

People are using AI without being shown how.

Share saying guidance, training or policy is absent or inadequate. One survey per bar.

People are using AI without being shown how.
Faculty: college AI guidance is inadequate71%
Staff: never received any AI training63%
Faculty: little or no guidance for teaching57%
Students: no one taught me to evaluate AI output48%
Students: no instructor explained the AI rules31%
Source: One campus survey per bar. The two student figures come from the CCSSE 2025 national cohort, about 73,000 students at US community colleges, weighted.
Fig. 4 · How far campuses have got

Only one documented use case in ten reports a measured result.

Every documented campus AI use case by evidence stage, from board announcements to measured deployments. Most of the record is one person describing what they do, and 10% report any measured result.

Only one documented use case in ten reports a measured result.
Proposed or announced27%
Reported use48%
Pilot14%
Deployed11%
Source: Tailwind's research corpus: 2,574 documented campus AI use cases from six countries. Sources are each institution's own published account; results are self-reported unless stated.
How to read these figures

Every survey figure is self-reported, and wording and scales differ from one survey to the next, so read direction, not decimals. No campus has run the same survey twice, so nothing here is a trend line. Use cases come from each institution's own published account. Want to know where your campus sits? Book a consult below and we'll compare it with our research corpus.

Get started

Book a free AI Consult.

Tell us what you're trying to figure out, where AI is showing up today, and what challenges or opportunities you're working through.

We'll help you think through your options and what a practical next step could look like.