Governing the Intelligent University: An Empirical Analysis of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration Challenges in Smart City Knowledge Systems

Universities serve as vital knowledge generation hubs within serious smart city strategies. However, the empirical integration of artificial intelligence into Egyptian academic research practices remains largely unexamined. This study surveys 105 researchers across four distinct core dimensions: awareness, workflow utilization, perceived barriers, and expected impact. The results demonstrate that general awareness is wide but shallow, while actual tool adoption is low. Operational and ethical challenges scored highest across the survey, with 85.7% of participants explicitly citing insufficient professional training as the primary bottleneck. Expected impact scores lean positive, particularly regarding efficiency, but skepticism about output accuracy limits overall optimism. Ultimately, this study frames artificial intelligence (AI) integration within higher education as an institutional smart city knowledge governance challenge. Fulfilling Egypt's national digital transformation agenda requires strategic policy intervention, structured governance frameworks, and systemic investment in human capacity, rather than focusing on technological infrastructure acquisition and deployment alone.