Rector: Artificial Intelligence and New Challenges in Education: Governance Imbalance and the Homogenization of Learning
(What We Think, Read, Hear, and Observe) – #14
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming many fields, and education is no exception. At a time when we stand on the threshold of a new era of learning, AI technologies are reshaping the ways students, teachers, and educational institutions approach education. From personalized learning experiences to increased administrative efficiency, the future of AI in education is largely viewed positively by experts. At the same time, however, the number of voices emphasizing the serious challenges posed by the integration of AI into education is steadily growing.
Currently, education systems are facing continuous reform pressures driven by rising expectations related to digitalization. In recent years, educational governance reforms worldwide have sought to strike a balance between centralized control and institutional autonomy, aligning national standards with curricular, pedagogical, and managerial flexibility at the institutional level. Within this framework, digital technologies have primarily been positioned as tools that support existing educational processes without fundamentally altering their internal logic. However, the rapid expansion of AI in education marks a qualitatively new stage. Unlike previous digital tools, AI directly intervenes in core pedagogical and governance domains such as curriculum design, assessment, feedback, learner profiling, and instructional decision-making, thereby challenging established approaches. Rather than merely enhancing administrative efficiency or digitizing existing teaching practices, AI is increasingly being tested to perform functions traditionally associated with human judgment and institutional authority. These include generating curricular content, recommending pedagogical pathways, supporting assessment processes, and influencing learning directions in real time. As a result, certain decision-making processes embedded within algorithms are designed and governed outside formal educational institutions, yet they are implemented directly within educational and learning environments. The blurring of boundaries between educational design, technological development, and pedagogical practice exposes a structural mismatch between existing governance frameworks and AI-mediated educational realities.
Historically, such issues have been addressed through balancing centralized governance and local autonomy. However, the growing influence of AI is fundamentally altering this equilibrium.
Alongside the advantages of AI-driven personalized education, serious concerns arise regarding the potential homogenization of learning processes, the narrowing of epistemic horizons, and the weakening of students’ intellectual autonomy through continuous monitoring and algorithmic profiling.
When AI operates as a relatively autonomous actor within education, questions regarding the redistribution of authority, responsibility, and accountability remain insufficiently addressed. Consequently, existing governance models struggle to explain how AI simultaneously reinforces centralized control while decentralizing pedagogical practices at the institutional level.
Thus, considering the ongoing and expanding implementation of AI in education, the emergence of new and serious challenges is inevitable. However, this does not imply remaining outside these processes. On the contrary, it suggests the urgency of engaging with them in a timely manner and positioning ourselves among those capable of observing emerging challenges from within and responding to them appropriately.
Ədalət Muradov,
Rector of UNEC, Professor