Human-at-the-Helm: Redefining the role of artificial intelligence in student support

The rapid expansion of college-sponsored generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as substitutes for faculty, advisors and other support staff (i.e. mentors) threatens to alter the relational foundations of higher education during a critical developmental transition. The college years are a period of intensive identity exploration, value clarification, and emerging life-role commitments processes that unfold through relationships with caring and responsive adults. By substituting for these relationships, chatbots may intensify psychological vulnerabilities, interrupt normative developmental processes, and displace social capital. As an alternative to student-facing chatbots, a human-at-the-helm model is presented, which positions AI as an administrative tool that aggregates data and provides insights and mentoring strategies, reducing mentors’ cognitive load while preserving the relational contexts in which these developmental processes unfold. By positioning AI as a tool for scaling, rather than replacing, human connection, this approach addresses resource constraints without sacrificing the authentic relationships on which positive developmental outcomes depend.