Experts recommend a shift in governance to ensure a beneficial AI and sustainability transition

Heads of business schools and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) meeting in Paris to discuss AI have expressed a common view that while the technology offers unprecedented productivity gains, its integration into higher education and policy requires a fundamental shift in governance.

The discussion took place at the AI in Higher Education Summit, hosted by ESCP Business School on 17-18/03/2026.

Gorgi Krlev, Associate Dean and Full Professor of Sustainability at ESCP, highlighted a growing tension between the tech-driven push for speed and the ethical caution of sustainability advocates. He noted that researchers often feel "caught in the middle" of tech people saying that caring about ethics slows them down and sustainability people blaming them for disrupting the environment.

Sandrine Kergroach, head of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, framed the current era as a "very fast acceleration in AI adoption" occurring simultaneously with an "urgent global imperative to achieve sustainability".

She argued that AI provides a…