Conversations in Higher Education explores the critical challenges and innovations shaping the future of colleges and universities through candid discussions with leaders on the front lines of transformation. In this episode, Gabe Akisanmi tackles the complex challenge of shadow AI in higher education, explaining how institutions can build trust by providing secure, governed AI tools that protect student data while delivering the same capabilities as public AI platforms.Welcome to Conversations in Higher Education! 🎓Recorded live at EDUCAUSE 2025 in Nashville, this episode features Gabe Akisanmi discussing one of the most pressing challenges in higher education today: shadow AI—when students and staff use ungoverned AI tools that put sensitive institutional data at risk.In this episode, Gabe discusses:✅ What shadow AI is and why it's a major trust challenge✅ How students inadvertently expose PII through public AI platforms✅ The importance of educating students on proper AI use✅ Building in-house AI capabilities with proper guardrails✅ Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) for institutional context✅ Why students need multiple AI sources to verify information✅ Preventing AI hallucinations through trust-but-verify approaches✅ Tools that scrub sensitive data before it reaches external AI✅ Amazon Bedrock and deploying AI within institutional control✅ Reducing friction to encourage use of governed AI tools✅ Balancing innovation speed with security, people, and process✅ Data governance as the foundation for responsible AI adoptionGabe provides practical insights on how CIOs can implement AI solutions that give students the capabilities they want while maintaining institutional security and compliance—ultimately building the trust that's essential for higher education's future.Recorded at EDUCAUSE 2025 in Nashville, TennesseeGuest: Gabe Akisanmi, Technology Leader in Higher EducationHost: Jon Myer, Rackspace Technology - Myer Media#HigherEducation #EdTech #EDUCAUSE #ArtificialIntelligence #ShadowAI #DataGovernance #StudentPrivacy #AIinEducation #TrustInEducation #CyberSecurity #RAGTimeline