Conference Program

The growing geopolitical disorder, characterized by the fragmentation of the information ecosystem and the progressive platformization of the public sphere, has profoundly redefined the conditions of possibility for democracy. As Habermas observed in his analysis of the structural transformation of the public sphere (Habermas, 1962), changes in communication technologies directly affect the forms of democratic deliberation. Today, artificial intelligence, while constituting an enabling technology, also represents a true epistemic and political infrastructure that shapes the formation of public opinion and the deliberative processes of individuals. From this perspective, AI cannot be interpreted merely as a tool; rather, it should be understood as a socio-technical device capable of organizing the relationship between knowledge, power, and the governance of information (Floridi, 2017). The structural transformation of the res publica now assumes a global dimension, within which AI contributes to redefining the boundaries of public information. In this context, education, as a foundation of democracy and a space for the formation of public intelligence, calls for a reconsideration of educational practices in light of digital tools that mediate knowledge, opinion, and participation (Panciroli & Rivoltella, 2023). Consequently, there is a need to develop forms of algorithmic literacy and critical awareness of communication systems that today organize access to information and orient - more or less implicitly - the cognitive and decision-making processes of citizens (Beer, 2017). Starting from these epistemological premises, this contribution presents an exploratory quantitative descriptive study conducted through a questionnaire administered to a sample of secondary school teachers in Calabria and Sicily. The study analyzes teachers’ level of awareness regarding the functioning of algorithms and artificial intelligence systems, the perceived effects of disinformation within the educational environment, and the emerging practices of critically integrating AI into teaching. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, to understand the degree of preparedness among teachers with respect to the transformations introduced by AI; on the other, to identify possible directions for the development of a democratic pedagogy of the algorithm, capable of integrating digital competencies, critical thinking, and civic responsibility into students’ education.