The rapid emergence of generative AI has prompted widespread concern across higher education about academic integrity, assessment design, and the future role of educators. Institutional responses have often focused on detection technologies, policy restrictions, or tool-specific guidance. While necessary, these responses risk overlooking deeper questions about the values and purposes that should shape the integration of AI into education.

This practitioner paper reflects on the development of the Manifesto for Generative AI in Higher Education, created through the GenAI:N3 network across Irish technological universities. Rather than presenting the manifesto as a policy or prescriptive framework, we position it as a collaborative artefact designed to stimulate dialogue about teaching, learning, ethics, and institutional responsibility in an age of AI.

The manifesto comprises thirty short statements organised across three themes: Rethinking Teaching and Learning, Responsibility, Ethics, and Power, and Imagination, Humanity, and the Future. These statements emerged through conversations with educators, workshops, conference presentations, and iterative reflection across the sector. They are intentionally concise and open-ended, designed to provoke discussion rather than prescribe solutions.

This paper explores the process of creating the manifesto and the role such artefacts can play in fostering critical AI literacy and community dialogue within higher education. We reflect on how manifesto-based approaches can create space for multiple voices, including educators and students, to engage critically with the opportunities and tensions introduced by generative AI.

We argue that participatory artefacts such as manifestos can support the higher education community in moving beyond reactive policy responses towards more reflective, values-driven approaches to educational technology.