Will Artificial Intelligence End the University? — Educational Reconstruction from Subject Generation to Awakening Generation

The rapid development of artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming the production, dissemination, and application of knowledge, creating the most significant structural challenge to higher education since the emergence of the modern university. As large language models increasingly undertake knowledge retrieval, text generation, coding, data analysis, and even certain creative tasks, the traditional university centered on knowledge transmission is gradually losing its monopoly over knowledge production and distribution. Although contemporary educational reforms have shifted from knowledge-based learning toward competency development, problem-oriented learning, and human–AI collaboration, these approaches largely remain within the framework of subject formation and fail to address the deeper crisis of subjectivity emerging in the age of artificial intelligence. Drawing upon the Theory of Subject Generation and the Philosophy of Awakening-Culture Education, this article argues that subject development unfolds through three stages of non-awakening—phenomenal consciousness, self-reflective consciousness, and ontological consciousness—corresponding respectively to conceptual attachment, innate ego-attachment, and innate attachment to ultimate principles. Beyond these stages lies a threefold path of awakening: emptiness, illusory existence, and the non-duality of emptiness and existence. On this basis, the paper proposes a new educational paradigm that moves from subject generation to awakening generation. The future university should not merely cultivate knowledge subjects, moral subjects, or civilizational subjects, but ultimately foster awakened subjects capable of meaning creation, responsibility, self-transcendence, and civilizational leadership. Accordingly, the fundamental mission of higher education in the AI era is not to produce individuals who can outperform artificial intelligence in calculation and reasoning, but to cultivate awakened human beings who can guide the future development of intelligent civilization. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Higher Education; Subject Generation; Awakening Education; Philosophy of Awakening-Culture Education; Philosophy of AI Awakening; Awakening Generation; Crisis of Subjectivity; Awakened Civilization; Philosophy of Education.