November 1, 2026, (Inside AI) — The director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, Prof Govindan Rangarajan, has warned that universities must reinvent themselves to prevent students from becoming mere prompt engines, as AI threatens to upend traditional knowledge delivery. Speaking at the third convocation of Adani University in Ahmedabad on Saturday, Rangarajan invoked the classic literary trope of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to describe AI's dual nature, urging graduates to harness its benefits while retaining control over their own thinking.
Rangarajan's address comes as Indian higher education institutions grapple with the rapid adoption of generative AI tools, which can tutor students around the clock and explain complex concepts with remarkable clarity. His warning carries weight from a leader of one of India's premier research institutions, which itself recently faced a cybersecurity disruption linked to AI-assisted bug discovery. The convocation, held in Ahmedabad, conferred 374 degrees, with 10 students receiving medals for academic excellence: five gold, three silver, and two bronze. Priti Adani, president of Adani University, presided over the ceremony.
The core of Rangarajan's argument rests on a paradox: the very technology that can democratize learning also undermines the university's traditional monopoly on knowledge. "AI can be a personal tutor; it can be very patient... it can be with you all the time. It can help explain concepts arguably better than any teacher," he said. "It also implies that the university is no longer the place where you impart knowledge. So the role of universities needs to change, probably the whole philosophy of a university has to change."
That shift, he suggested, forces educators to answer a fundamental question: why should students come to universities at all? His answer hinges on the irreplaceable value of human interaction. "Why should students come to universities? Because the social interaction and the inspiration that teachers can give are things that AI cannot capture; those aspects will become very important as we go along," Rangarajan said.
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AI's Double Edge: Bug Finder And Bug Creator
Rangarajan's Jekyll and Hyde framing gained concrete urgency from a recent incident involving the PHP programming language, which powers a large share of the web. AI tools helped identify two bugs in PHP, prompting a widespread patching scramble. IISc itself had to take down all its websites, apply fixes, and bring them back online. "Now it's going at a rapid pace - every day, every week, you see more and more bugs being created and we do not have enough manpower even with AI tools to patch up these bugs in a proper way," he said.
This anecdote illustrates a broader concern: AI can accelerate both offense and defense in cybersecurity, but the human capacity to respond may lag. For universities, which host sensitive research data and student records, such disruptions pose operational and reputational risks. The PHP incident also highlights how AI-generated code and AI-assisted vulnerability discovery can create a maintenance burden that outpaces institutional resources.
Inside AI's analysis: The PHP episode underscores a subtle but critical point often lost in AI adoption debates. The same models that help find bugs can also generate them at scale, and the bottleneck is not detection but remediation. Universities and enterprises alike are discovering that AI tools multiply the workload for human patch managers, not reduce it. This suggests that AI governance must include not just usage policies but also robust incident response capacity, something Indian institutions are only beginning to build.
Rangarajan's most direct advice to students was a call for cognitive self-defense. "We should make use of those advancements but if we completely offload our entire thinking to AI... We should not become prompt engines. We should control AI. So I request all of you to cherish human relationships," he said. The phrase "prompt engines" captures a growing anxiety among educators: that students might reduce their intellectual engagement to crafting queries for large language models, rather than developing deep understanding themselves.
The convocation also served as a platform to celebrate academic achievement. Adani University, part of the Adani Group's education initiatives, has positioned itself as a hub for emerging technologies. Rangarajan's presence signals a growing dialogue between traditional research institutions and private universities on how to integrate AI responsibly. The IISc director's remarks align with a wider push in Indian academia to draft AI usage guidelines that prioritize critical thinking over automation.
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As AI tools become more embedded in curricula, the tension between efficiency and intellectual development will only intensify. Rangarajan's warning that universities must change their philosophy, not just their tools, offers a roadmap for institutions navigating that tension. The coming years will test whether they can preserve the human elements of inspiration and social learning while embracing AI's undeniable advantages.
