Who is the event for?

Teaching staff at Stockholms University, KI and KTH.

Time/programme:

Thursday September 18, at 13-16

Refreshments: Swedish Fika

Lecture, followed by a Q&A session.

Language: English

Venue/find your way: Campus Frescati, Department of Education, Frescativägen 54. Level 5, Room: 2503

Abstract

This presentation develops a political epistemology and ontology for artificial intelligence in education (AI&ED) and shows how they lead to new tools for the development of AI policy and practice. It begins with a fundamental set of questions—what is education, what is learning, and what is AI, and argues that education must be understood as a social and political institution oriented towards Bildung: the cultivation of citizens capable of meaningful participation in cultural, political, and economic life. Education is fundamentally about the creation and expansion of human agency in social and technological contexts. This emancipatory view resonates with democratic theory, in which education underpins individual agency, individual and social development, and collective self-governance. I will argue that the commodification of expertise and knowledge shifts education towards non-epistemic competence components, and that AI is accelerating this change. AIED must address this shift from content mastery towards non-epistemic components.

AI is, however, a new kind of technology. Large language models transform knowledge infrastructures that underpin societies. Unlike cognitive tools illustrated by Vygotsky, or the blind man’s cane in Merleau-Ponty, Bateson, Polanyi, Gibson and others, LLMs function as dialogical partners that reflexively blur the boundary between human and machine. The unit of analysis is no longer the learner alone, but the evolving interplay between learner and AI. The functionalities of technology, however, structure human interaction, thinking, and development. Yet, the alignment of LLMs with social norms and values now occurs outside democratic accountability and deliberation.
From this perspective, the political stakes of AI&ED become evident. If democracy depends on education and aims for human flourishing, then the governance of AI in education requires rethinking. The presentation discusses a future-oriented policy tool designed to enhance anticipatory governance and to help stakeholders imagine, negotiate, and experiment with educational futures. I will ask, can such a tool integrate the epistemological infrastructures of markets, deliberative processes, and expert knowledge.

Keywords: ontology of education; anticipatory AI governance; S4P 3.0; CoE AI&ED Policy Toolbox; democracy; future of education

About Ilkka Tuomi

Ilkka Tuomi is Chief Scientist at Meaning Processing Ltd., an independent research institute located in Helsinki, Finland. He is one of the pioneers of AI in Finland and author of several books, articles, and policy-oriented reports on AI and education, innovation theory, knowledge management, futures studies, and evidence-informed policy. He was senior thematic expert for the EC expert group that developed ethical guidelines for educators on the use of AI, and expert for UNESCO AI competence frameworks for teachers and students. At present he develops the Committee of Ministers recommendation on AI literacy for the Council of Europe and its AI&ED policy toolbox.

Registration

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