Conference Program

Abstract: This study is a theoretical reflection on the inclusive use of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED). The literature review by Wang et al. (2024) on AIED highlights that most existing papers focus on its applications and characteristics, without providing a comprehensive overview of research topics and methodologies. As pointed out by Wang et al. (2024), there is a lack of in-depth analysis of the fundamental theories commonly used to guide research on AIED. The theoretical nature of this contribution seeks to restore AIED to the socio-political context of its use and to the profound epistemological changes resulting from the hybridization of the real with the digital, the Onlife (Floridi, 2014).
This work analyses the theme of inclusion along two lines. The first frames inclusion within competence-based teaching (European Commission, 1995; John 1997; Murphy 1997; Angelucci 2018; Caputo, 2019; Cosgrove & Cachia, 2025), highlighting its implicit assumptions regarding the educational goals underlying the constructivist pedagogical model and the consequent “learnification” of educational discourse (Biesta, 2006; 2010; 2011; 2012; 2022). In a context where measurable learning outcomes take precedence over reflection on the pedagogical principles that guide educational action (Wang et al., 2024), education finds itself completely reduced to learning (Bulger, 2016). The need to clarify educational goals is even more urgent when placed within the broader discourse of the digital age. As Floridi pointed out, in the digital age « the re-ontologization of agency has not yet been accompanied by an adequate re-epistemologization of its interpretation » (Floridi, 2022, p.32). We therefore put forward the hypothesis that the same re-epistemologization is necessary in AIED. The new agency of artificial intelligence (AI) and, consequently, AIED requires a complex and new interpretative effort that takes into consideration educational goals, beyond the mere acquisition of skills for work. This calls for an idea of inclusion accounting for the ethical and epistemological issues at stake, which are still largely not made explicit, in the new learning scenarios.
The second line of this study addresses the issue of inclusion from a more political side, starting from European Commission (2018) to continue with Cesaroni’s (2024) review of key UNESCO documents, which highlights the prevalence of a techno-solutionist approach that reduces inclusion to integration. The profound epistemological changes resulting from the Onlife (Floridi 2020; 2025) make the link between technology and power (Winner, 2017; Adam, 2019; Knox 2019; Cotterell et al., 2020; Naismith & Juffs, 2021; Nemorin et. al 2022; Bisconti, 2024) a fundamental aspect in relation to the ethical and inclusive use of digital technologies and AI.
After recognizing the danger posed by AIED colonialism (Benjamin, 2019; Costanza-Chock, 2020; Earl, 2021; Zembylas, 2021; Holmes & Tuomi, 2022) and the risk that economic interests prevail over educational goals (Holmes et al., 2022), we advocate for the application of the principle of explicability (Floridi, 2022) to AIED and the creation of an adequate literacy for teachers and learners, based on the topics addressed.