Positioning for Success: How Universities in Developing Countries Can Thrive in the AI Era by Focusing on Sustainable Development

This shift threatens the traditional role of universities as primary knowledge producers, as global commercial companies can now independently create knowledge using advanced computational power and proprietary datasets.While some universities are adapting, many remain vulnerable, risking catastrophic outcomes by not evolving.Resource-poor universities, especially in developing countries, face additional challenges.While such universities often play important roles in local innovation ecosystems, they also face difficulties due to policy failures, infrastructure deficiencies, and institutional barriers, which can reduce their effectiveness and influence in the global context (Fu & Shi, 2022).The rapid development of AI systems such as large language models (LLMs) represents both a challenge and a significant opportunity for these universities.To survive, these universities must adopt a "differentiation" strategy, producing unique knowledge to attract funding, collaborations, and students.Focusing on sustainable development, a critical and diverse field, can enhance this strategy.