New analysis of India’s effort to operationalize AI at national scale highlights a central lesson for universities worldwide: invention outpaces institutional absorption. Researchers and industry leaders point to Aadhaar, payments and public services as examples where technical capability existed but organizational rules, workforce skills and accountability structures lagged behind deployment plans. The piece frames adoption as an institutional challenge — institutions must change incentives, standards and staffing to realize AI’s benefits. For higher education, the India case underscores the need for universities to treat AI integration as an organizational transformation. That includes updating curricula, revising faculty reward structures to recognize AI‑enabled pedagogy, and creating formal pathways for partnerships with industry that include governance and audit clauses. The reporting cites Nandan Nilekani and policy scholars who argue that national-scale diffusion depends as much on governance and workforce development as on models and chips.