AI Adoption Growing in Online College Programs
Credit: Watchara Piriyaputtanapun / Moment / Getty Images- A 2025 UPCEA survey shows most online college programs are adopting AI, primarily to enhance teaching practices and streamline administrative tasks.
- While most institutions set AI policy with university leadership, nearly one-third either decide independently or lack a formal process.
- Small institutions are less likely to utilize AI than medium and large institutions.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly working its way into online college programs, new research suggests.
The 2025 Benchmarking Online Enterprises Survey (BOnES) surveyed 121 participants from institutions across the U.S. and found that many are using AI to enhance teaching practices. The report from the Online Professional Education Association (UPCEA) also found that of 85 respondents, only 13% said they weren’t using AI in any way for online education programs.
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Generally, online programs collaborate with university leadership to set AI policy.
That’s not always the case, however. Out of 71 programs surveyed, 18% said they make AI policy decisions independently, while 14% say no formal process exists for setting AI use standards in online education.
The most common ways online programs use AI are to “enhance teaching practices” (61%) or to make administrative tasks more efficient (58%), according to the report.
Online programs rarely (4%) use AI to aid in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Generally, AI use was similar across different institution sizes. The most striking difference, however, is that small institutions appear much more likely to avoid AI entirely (44%) than medium (7%) or large institutions (10%).
Many online programs are also encouraging faculty and staff to explore AI tools. Approximately 77% of the programs surveyed said they offer structured workshops centered on AI, and 70% said they organized faculty learning groups.