An Exploratory Study of the Ethical Challenges and Infrastructure Constraints in AI Integration in Libyan Higher Education

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is driving a fundamental structural change, yet Libyan academia frequently misreads this upheaval as a simple software upgrade, chasing efficiency while side-stepping the severe ethical fallout. By examining the national institutional grid, this review exposes a volatile dynamic. A growing demand for digitisation is colliding with decaying physical infrastructure and a significant lack of in regulatory policy.  The unchecked saturation of AI tools across student populations actively accelerates systemic institutional decay. Deployed without strict oversight, these systems erode academic integrity, normalise mass surveillance, and allow opaque, Western-centric biases to infiltrate core assessments. Forcing these hyper-optimised global models into a recovering post-conflict environment engineers a modern intellectual dependency. Local epistemologies are immediately marginalised, effectively drowned out by foreign algorithms completely blind to regional cultural nuances.  Moving beyond purely descriptive critiques, this study engineers a multi-stage integration architecture tailored to bypass existing administrative blockades. The proposed blueprint demands that digital adoption be firmly anchored within indigenous philosophical frameworks, enforcing strict moral accountability. If institutions hope to survive this rapid technological transition and secure true intellectual sovereignty, they must rapidly execute a culturally resilient computational strategy.