From Experimentation to Scale: Gravyty’s CEO on What’s Next for AI in Higher Ed

Two years ago, many people viewed AI in higher education as controversial. Today, AI is considered a non-negotiable for most institutions.

What started as one-off experiments — a business school testing a chatbot, an online program piloting content generation tools — is now moving toward institution-wide adoption. In fact, universities are no longer asking if they should use AI, but how to scale AI across the entire student lifecycle. 

Recently, Campus Technology featured Gravyty’s CEO, Justin Beck, in their article “2026 Predictions for AI and Ed Tech” alongside other notable industry leaders. The article brings together insights from executives in higher education technology on what comes next. 

Here’s what Justin had to say, and why we think 2026 will be the year AI moves from departmental pilots to institution-wide infrastructure.

From departmental pilots to institution-wide impact

Justin highlighted a crucial shift we’re seeing across the industry:

“Looking ahead, we’re going to be moving from heavy experimentation to scaled impact. Eighteen months ago you saw a heavy dose of AI hitting the academic side of the institution: students using it to help write their papers and filters for scanning papers for such things; content creation for questions which helped teachers and educators create a more robust quizzing or testing mechanism. What we’re seeing in the last year is folks really starting to focus on administrative testing.”

The evolution is clear. Early AI adoption focused primarily on academic use cases, often in isolated departments or specific programs. Now, institutions are recognizing the broader potential across admissions, advising, student services, fundraising, alumni relations, and more.

A turning point for AI strategy

What makes 2026 different? Simply put, universities are moving beyond one-off departmental projects to comprehensive, institution-wide AI strategies.

“The vast majority of our pipeline right now is universities taking these one-off departmental projects and saying, ‘This is something we can scale up to the institution as a whole,'” Justin explained.

This reminds us of another transformative moment in higher education technology: the early days of learning management systems. What started as experiments in individual schools or online programs eventually became university-wide standards. We’re seeing the same pattern with AI — and 2026 appears to be the year institutions make that leap from testing to standardization.

What industry leaders are saying

The Campus Technology article features predictions from executives across the ed tech ecosystem, and several key themes emerged:

• AI is becoming infrastructure, not just a tool. Leaders predict AI will be embedded across admissions, advising, student services, learning, accessibility, and administration — moving beyond standalone chatbots and pilot programs.
• Data integration is critical. AI’s real power comes from connecting fragmented systems and data sources to deliver personalized, coordinated student support.
• Access and equity matter. From device-agnostic software access to improved accessibility compliance, the focus is on ensuring AI benefits all students, not just some.
• Learning modalities are expanding. Institutions are investing in technologies that support in-person, remote, asynchronous, and immersive learning experiences.

Why this matters for higher education

At Gravyty, we’re seeing this evolution firsthand. Institutions want to unify student support, fundraising, alumni relations, and athlete engagement into a single AI-powered platform. They’re not just asking “Can AI help with this specific task?”, they’re asking “How can AI help us serve students and stakeholders more effectively across their entire lifecycle?”

That’s the shift from experimentation to scale. And it’s exactly what 2026 will be about.

We’re built for this moment

The shift from experimentation to scale isn’t just a prediction. It’s what we’re seeing every day. Institutions are ready to move beyond isolated pilots and fragmented tools. They want unified platforms that connect the dots across the entire student and stakeholder lifecycle.

That’s exactly what Gravyty delivers: AI-powered engagement solutions that unify student support, fundraising, alumni relations, and athlete engagement into a single platform. We help institutions stop asking “Can AI do this?” and start asking “How much more can we accomplish?”

If your institution is ready to make the leap from testing to transformation, let’s talk about what scaled AI impact looks like for you.