The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is not merely another phenomenon but, as accurately described, the primary driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4thIR), impacting all fields. The academic sphere will inevitably encounter the waves of this revolution, testing its fundamental pillars. This article specifically examines the Humboldtian university, questioning its readiness to face this revolutionary change, its internal forces for advancing or resisting this revolution, and its inherent capabilities for adapting and surviving within its conditions. Initially, conceptual issues arise: What will become of the Humboldtian concepts of solitude, freedom, the pursuit of truth, research, and civic engagement in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Subsequently, we could reflect on the relationship between the academic individual in the Humboldtian discourse and the university's spatiality, academic mobility, and interdisciplinary relations. To address these questions, instead of adopting speculative or conceptually deductive approaches, we employ a phenomenological approach, narrating the lived experiences of Iranian universities. This is achieved through semi-structured interviews with three groups – professors, administrators, and students – from selected Iranian universities who have relevant experiences, representing them as an elite group. We bracket some initial, and often contradictory, judgments prevalent in public discourse, such as: AI will soon completely destroy and devalue the classic university; AI, as a serving tool, has no impact on the essence of classic universities and can only serve them; AI contradicts the concepts of erudition, solitude, and freedom of the classic academic individual. By suspending these judgments, we can give voice to the lived experiences of those who have worked within universities under the influence of Humboldtian Bildung and who have encountered the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This allows us to reveal the actual relationships between the two within the context of Iranian universities, providing a framework for understanding other experiences.
