AI-generated summary
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), capable of producing text, images, music, and solving complex problems, holds significant promise for transforming education. According to UNICEF, AI can personalize learning, automate administrative tasks, and support data-driven decision-making. It caters to diverse learning styles by offering tailored educational experiences, from complex problem-solving for reflective learners to interactive simulations for active students and social engagement for interpersonal learners. AI also aids socio-emotional development through tools analyzing emotions and facilitating virtual role-playing. However, challenges arise, such as potential declines in critical thinking, creativity, and interpersonal skills due to overreliance on AI-generated content and virtual interactions. Additionally, cognitive overload from rapid information delivery and unequal access to AI technologies risk exacerbating educational inequalities.
To harness AI’s benefits responsibly, educators must develop competencies in living with, using, and teaching about AI, emphasizing ethical understanding alongside technical skills. Ethical concerns include data privacy, bias in algorithms, and equitable access, demanding transparent, fair, and inclusive AI governance. International initiatives like UNICEF’s policy guide and UNESCO’s forums highlight integrating ethics with AI in education. Ultimately, a balanced approach combining innovation, ethics, and continuous teacher training is essential to ensure AI enriches education while preserving its human core, fostering critical, creative, and empathetic students prepared for the future.
In an increasingly digitized world, artificial intelligence is positioned as a transformative tool in all aspects of life, including education
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), capable of creating text, images, music and even finding solutions to complex problems, has direct applications in the field of education. According to UNICEF, this technology has the potential to revolutionize learning, personalize the educational experience, automate administrative tasks, and foster data-driven decisions. However, along with their promises, there are also ethical concerns and challenges that require urgent attention.
First, the constant use of AI tools could lead to a reduction in essential cognitive abilities, such as writing and problem-solving, because text generators, by simplifying complex processes, decrease the effort needed to build strong arguments or develop original ideas. Similar to the decline in navigation skills caused by GPS, AI could modify the perception of time and expectations, leading people to avoid situations that require patience or prolonged effort.
For this reason, skills such as critical thinking, the ability to verify information, and understanding how algorithmic models work become essential. In addition, prolonged exposure to AI-generated content can lead to a decline in divergent thinking, limiting the ability to come up with creative and innovative solutions, as technology tends to reproduce already established patterns, resulting in a phenomenon known as fixation on design.
On the other hand, AI-mediated learning and interactions also carry the risk of a loss of interpersonal skills, since the use of virtual assistants as emotional support can foster a dependence on simulated relationships, impoverishing social skills. Likewise, the speed with which artificial intelligence processes and delivers information can generate cognitive overload and overstimulation, making it difficult to concentrate and causing mental fatigue, a problem aggravated by the immediacy characteristic of digital technologies.
Finally, inequalities in access to artificial intelligence represent a significant risk, given that these advanced tools could remain within the exclusive reach of those with greater resources, widening the gap between privileged and disadvantaged contexts, underscoring the need to ensure an equitable distribution of the opportunities offered by technology.
A revolution that must be managed
Despite all these risks, it is undeniable that AI offers an innovative perspective, potentially capable of triggering a real revolution in education systems, opening the way to personalization, adapting to the different cognitive styles of students. For reflective students, it offers complex question systems, detailed feedback, and in-depth explanations; for the active, it develops simulations and educational games that provide practical experiences; and for interpersonal children, who learn best through social interactions, it facilitates virtual communities that moderate discussions, propose group activities and encourage role plays.
In this sense, AI not only improves technical skills, but, although used, it can also contribute to the development of socio-emotional skills. In fact, some platforms analyze facial expressions and tones of voice to deduce a person’s emotional state, helping them prepare for public speeches or complex interactions. Virtual simulations and role-playing games can also be used to create safe environments where they can learn to negotiate, resolve conflicts and develop empathy.
One of the biggest challenges in translating this positive potential into real effects is ensuring that teachers are prepared to integrate AI into their classrooms. According to the European Digital Education Hub (2023), which has developed seven reports on the role of artificial intelligence in education, educators must develop three levels of AI-related competencies:
- For AI: Skills to live in an AI-influenced world, with an emphasis on a critical and safe approach.
- With AI: Use of AI tools to improve educational processes and understand the models and algorithms that support them.
- About AI: Teaching the technical and ethical foundations of AI to students.
This framework stresses that teacher education should not be limited to technology, but also incorporate pedagogical and ethical skills that foster inclusive and reflective learning. The truth is that the implementation of AI in education is not a futuristic concept: it is already happening.
Tools such as ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, are used to answerquestions, write essays and practice languages. Likewise, adaptive learning platforms such as Khan Academy use algorithms to personalize content according to the student’s progress. Applications for the study of languages, such as Duolingo or Babbel, take advantage of AI to offer corrections in real time, detecting nuances in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, promoting deeper linguistic understanding.
In addition, AI not only enhances traditional learning, but is also a valuable resource for overcoming creative blocks. Programs such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude 3 or Mistral Large for text, Midjourney or Stable Diffusion for images and Suno or Udio for music enrich creative processes, amplifying the ability to experiment and suggesting new stylistic and compositional ideas.
However, all of these technical applications also have limitations. For example, AI can help evaluate multiple-choice exercises, but it lacks the ability to value nuance in essays or creative projects. This is where human intervention, of educators, continues to be indispensable.
Ethics and governance: pillars of responsible integration
The use of AI in education also raises significant ethical questions. How is student data protected? What happens if an algorithm perpetuates biases? According to the European Commission’s ‘Ethical Guidelines for Educators on the Use of AI’ report, it is essential to ensure that these technologies respect privacy, are transparent and promote fairness. In fact, the DigComp 2.2 2022 update, ‘Digital Competence Framework for Citizens‘, states that the development of digital competences not only involves mastering technology, but also understanding its limitations and risks.
In 2021, UNICEF published the ‘Policy Guide on AI for Children‘, listing nine fundamental principles that prioritize the well-being, inclusion and protection of student data. A year earlier, UNESCO led a pioneering initiative to optimize the benefits of AI in learning through an international forum, highlighting the importance of combining technical and ethical aspects in the design of educational programs.
On the other hand, the project AI4K12, developed in the United States by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), seeks to include key AI concepts from primary to secondary education. This approach allows students to understand very early on how AI works, from computational perception to algorithmic reasoning, preparing them for a deeply technological future.
Ethical AI governance involves training teachers and administrators in ethical data management, setting clear standards for the use of AI tools in classrooms, and fostering a constant dialogue between educators, technologists, and policymakers. As the Council of Europe’s report ‘Artificial Intelligence and Education‘ concludes, the aim is to build a sustainable collaboration between humans and machines that prepares new generations for the challenges of the 21st century.
To achieve this, a holistic approach is needed that combines technological innovation, ethics and continuous training. Only in this way can AI become a true educational revolution, promoting not only knowledge, but also the integral development of students as critical and responsible citizens. In this context, soft skills, such as empathy and creativity, will continue to be invaluable, reminding us that, even if technology evolves, the essence of education will always be deeply human.
