New data from more than 1,000 K–12 districts and reporting from campus professors show institutions are crafting disparate AI policies as student usage outpaces governance. District briefings argue that a binary ban‑vs‑embrace approach leaves blind spots and that real‑world usage data should inform guardrails; college instructors are simultaneously creating course‑level rules and sanctions that frequently conflict. Practitioners say bans can create compliance blind spots while ad‑hoc permissive policies invite academic‑integrity disputes. Education leaders and faculty governance bodies are experimenting with differentiated policies that specify allowed uses, required disclosures, and formative assignments that build AI literacy instead of policing every instance. Why it matters: provosts, deans, and academic-senate leaders should coordinate institutionwide AI guidelines, clarify expectations for formative use versus assessment, and create training for faculty on assignment design that safely integrates generative tools.