Governing Human Capability in an Age of Distributed Intelligence

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how knowledge is produced, interpreted and evaluated across higher education. These challenges established assumptions about agency, learning and institutional responsibility. Current debates have largely focused on regulation, ethics, employability and digital competence, while giving less attention to the implications of distributed intelligence for the future purpose of the university. Drawing on a critical conceptual analysis, this article introduces distributed intelligence as a new condition of educational governance in which learning and decision-making emerge from interactions among human actors, artificial intelligence systems and institutional infrastructures. In response, the paper develops Capability Governance as a future-oriented theory centered on judgment, capability formation, distributed responsibility, flourishing and adaptation under conditions of uncertainty. It further conceptualizes widening participation as a question of capability justice and reimagines universities as capability institutions. The article argues that the central challenge for higher education is just how to govern artificial intelligence, but how to manage educational futures that expand human capability, promote justice and sustain human flourishing.