Let’s conduct a minor intervention
The AI revolution in education is becoming a [extremely] convenient tool to promote and grandiose a new guru class. As a new form of deity emerges, the days of exploring the limits of human capacity and imagination are long gone. Instead, we now see a glorified renovation within a crumbling house.
The buzzwords, boundless optimism, and AI-generated content are hardly the nirvana of enlightenment and spiritual prowess we hope for. We should be cheerleading for a possible future, but one that is adequately imagined. The issue? Our new gurus are designing planes without understanding aerodynamics, and the results are as predictable as they are well-intentioned.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: AI tools developed to optimize a broken system will not liberate it. What we risk is misuse—an explosion of automated grading, personalized drill-and-kill exercises, and surveillance tools to monitor student behaviour. The business card brigade will ensure this is the endgame. There is too much financial reward in it.
These aren’t innovations. Instead, they might turbocharge everything some of us have been fighting against for over a decade. It’s like putting an engine into a horse-drawn carriage and calling it progress.
And let’s not ignore the irony at play here: Schools ban phones—devices that are extensions of modern life [with phenomenal potential]—while simultaneously pushing AI-driven tools. We’ve collectively decided that technology is both the problem and the solution. This occurs while we refuse to engage with the deeper conversation: Is “banning” just the easy way out of self-inflicted crises? This is not just hypocrisy; it’s a collapse of imagination.
The real issue isn’t the tools themselves; it’s the absence of a coherent vision of what education should be. AI in education lacks a cohesive pedagogical direction and foundation. Tools risk being designed to improve efficiency, not transform learning experiences. They’re potentially being built to streamline the factory education model, with no plan to redesign [and dare I say reimagine] it.
On the conference circuit, we see the tech evangelist strategy—promote tools that operate isolated from real-world dynamics and often ignore the messy learning process. These tools are lauded for their ability to automate and speed up tasks, but they do little to address the more profound questions: What is the Purpose of education? What skills do students need in this rapidly changing world?
If we’re not careful, we’re raising a generation of passive consumers of AI-generated content. Is that the future we want? A world where students are no longer active participants in their learning but mere creators and recipients of pre-packaged knowledge?
Another Way Forward
- Redesign the Purpose The curriculum models we design must be learner-centred, prioritizing creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability. AI should thrive in this environment, not prop up outdated systems. The goal should be cultivating thinkers, not test-takers [we need to mean this, not just say it on our websites]. We must watch with care the misalignment between adult designers and learner needs.
- Partnership Over Replacement AI tools will thrive within a pedagogical framework that champions a diverse, flexible, and learner-driven portfolio approach. But let’s not dismiss replacement theory entirely. In some cases, automation might be necessary. The key is balance. We must ask ourselves: What do we gain and lose when we automate a task?
Broader Implications
This isn’t just about education but the existence we want to build.
Education is how we transmit knowledge, values, and culture from generation to generation.
How we cultivate spirituality, ethics, ancient wisdom, understand the past, and try to predict the future.
If we allow AI to reinforce the status quo—a system designed for the industrial age, not the digital one—we risk stifling the innovation we champion and failing to prepare students for the road ahead.
The stakes are high.
We need a bold, visionary approach to AI in education that prioritizes human flourishing over the personalized ambition of AI-guru status.
Many of us appreciate the power AI has in education, but only if we approach it with intention.
Let’s not just build more innovative tools—let’s create a more coherent system for these tools to thrive within.
