New Friction 2: What Higher Education Knows About AI That Industry Doesn't
In this episode of the New Friction podcast, host Douglas Ferguson speaks with Jeff Grabill, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University at Buffalo, recorded in the immediate aftermath of the IHE US AI Summit 2026, which both men attended. Grabill recounts what emerged from that two-day working convening — the foundation of the Buffalo Statement, a collective public agenda for AI in higher education — and reflects on why the room's patience, grounded confidence, and willingness to question prior assumptions exceeded his expectations. The conversation explores why universities, often criticized for moving slowly, may possess exactly the right instincts for AI transformation: designing conversations intentionally, engineering productive friction, and moving fast and slow at the same time. Ferguson and Grabill dig into how AI has relocated rather than eliminated friction — particularly in learning environments, where effortless output now threatens the productive struggle that actually builds expertise and ideas. They close on a librarian's insight from the summit — "I don't care if AI created it, I care if it's true" — and Grabill's call for businesses and universities to actively seek one another out as partners in working through this moment.
