12 Ways to Dive into AI at SXSW EDU

• By Rhea Kelly
• 02/12/26

This March 9-12, the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival returns to Austin, TX, to celebrate innovation, experimentation, and learning across every stage of education. Attendees will tackle education's most important issues and trends through a wide variety of sessions, workshops, hands-on experiences, and more.

Sessions focused on artificial intelligence in higher education have proliferated on the SXSW EDU agenda this year, offering multifaceted ways to engage with the topic. Here are 12 of our top picks.

 

1) Community Colleges & AI Success for Students & Communities
California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian will share how her institution is preparing students for AI-powered careers through industry partnerships, faculty collaboration and AI curriculum tailored to real workforce needs.

2) Teaching on the Frontier: Skills for the AI Era
The next generation of learners won't just use AI — they'll lead with it, says Rachel Wortman Morris, director of Microsoft's NextGen Learning Lab. Wortman Morris will offer strategies for equipping learners with essential skills such as critical thinking, effective prompting, and collaboration with AI agents.

3) Experiencing Learning: Hedging Against AI Disruption
Panelists from London Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management, Carnegie Mellon University, and Symplicity will discuss how AI can augment experiential learning and help develop the uniquely human skillsets needed for the future of work.

4) Institutional AI Adoption: Moving from Hype to Habit
In this workshop, experts from the Learning Design Alliance, WGU Labs, and Axio AI will explore the challenges and strategies of integrating AI into existing organizational ecosystems.

5) Making AI Work for Higher Ed: A Leadership Conversation
Panelists from the Gates Foundation, Every Learner Everywhere, and T3 Advisory will discuss what responsible AI implementation looks like in practice.

6) What If? A Social Simulation — AI & the Next Era of Learning
Experts from the Institute for the Future will lead a small-group exercise to explore four different "What if?" models of higher education, from "AI-Proof" to "AI-Augmented" and "AI-Directed."

7) What Students and Staff Really Think About AI in Higher Ed
Canyon GBS's Joseph Licata and Mark Koan will explore the AI trust and confidence gap between students and staff, sharing national research on AI adoption and ethics as well as insights on how colleges can approach AI adoption equitably and transparently.

8) Are You AI-Ready? What That Really Means for Student Success
Panelists including leaders from Clovis Community College and San José State University will delve into what AI readiness really looks like and how foundational data infrastructure and thoughtful application design come together to enable meaningful, equity-centered student support.

9) The Climate Paradox of AI Education
This panel asks, "How do we justify using energy-intensive AI to teach climate solutions?" Panelists will examine the trade-offs and solutions for transforming climate education with AI-powered personalized learning and interactive simulations.

10) Rethinking Higher Education to Build an AI-First Workforce
In this panel, experts from the New York Jobs CEO Council, Google.org, City University of New York, and IBM will explore the awareness gaps impacting low-income communities and strategies to cultivate an inclusive, future-ready workforce. 

11) Building AI Pathways for HBCU Talent & Community Impact
Higher education, industry, and ecosystem leaders will examine how ethical AI pathways can be built with HBCUs so that AI innovation leads to access, ownership, and long-term opportunity for Black talent and communities.

12) Plus: Connect with an AI Mentor
SXSW EDU's mentorship sessions offer tailored advice and support in a one-on-one format. Attendees interested in the intersection of higher education and AI can:

• Talk to Lingyi Kong, design director and instructor at the Parsons School of Design, about bringing AI into design work, teaching, or brand projects.
• Talk to Anzar Khaliq, chief learning officer at San Francisco Bay University, about AI-enhanced course and assessment design.
• Talk to Dhairya Pjara, founder and CEO of Ycenter, about integrating AI learning in higher ed.
• Talk to Ari Lightman, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, about agentic AI, innovation, and insight with social data.
• Talk to Jake Crowley, managing partner at Crowley Capital, about AI-driven startup strategy and product market fit.

View the full schedule of SXSW EDU sessions and events at SXSWEDU.com.