Beyond algorithms: Education’s role in the age of AI

We are at the confluence of two powerful forces: Artificial Intelligence and Human Aspiration. AI has seeped into the cracks of our daily existence—guiding traffic, curating content, predicting performance, and even tailoring lesson plans. Yet, in this remarkable technological ascent lies an equally powerful imperative: ensuring that education remains the birthplace of wisdom, not merely knowledge.

The promise and paradox of AI

AI-driven tools now personalise learning at scale, streamline administrative tasks and provide insights with remarkable precision. A teacher supported by AI becomes a data-empowered guide. A student supported by AI becomes a self-paced explorer. But if we are not vigilant, the same technology can narrow perspectives, reinforce biases and reduce the space for reflection. When algorithms begin to define what is visible and valuable, they may quietly erode the learner’s agency—the power to question, to discern and to choose.

The deeper role of education today is therefore not only to prepare students to use AI, but to empower them to shape it.

Education as a sanctuary of agency

Agency is born from judgment, nurtured byempathy and shaped by context—qualities that cannot simply be downloaded. They must be experienced. To preserve agency, schools must anchor themselves in three interwoven human truths:

• Rigor: cultivating curiosity and cognitive resilience in the face of complexity

• Relevance: connecting learning to real-world meaning and ethical questions

• Relationships: fostering teacher–student bonds that no chatbot can replace

Imagine a learner asking: “What values guide the creation of this AI tool?” or “Whose voices are missing in this dataset?” These are not technical questions, yet they are the ethical inquiries that will shape our collective future.

Shaping workers and world makers

As jobs evolve, education must pivot not to outpace machines but to humanise the workplace. The most valuable skills of the future—collaboration, creativity, ethical reasoning and intercultural empathy—are deeply human. AI can simulate them, but it cannot embody them. Educational institutions must therefore prepare students not just to earn a living, but to craft lives of meaning. This requires expanding AI literacy beyond technical knowledge to include emotional intelligence, cultural awareness andethical reflection. Equally important is addressing the digital divide—not only in access to technology but also in understanding how it works and how it should be governed.

Towards a new educational vision

Preserving human agency means ensuring that students are not passive recipients of AI systems but active participants in designing, questioning and reimagining them. This calls for a new kind of educational leadership—one that balances improving current systems with exploring future possibilities. Resources must be allocated not only to adopt technology, but to ensure it aligns with the institution’s deeper educational vision.

A human-centred future

Education is not about racing against AI; it is about rising with our humanity intact. Schools must become places where learners decode both machine learning and moral dilemmas—where they build both code and character, and where they learn not only how the world works, but how it ought to work. The author is Co-Founder Equanimity Learning, Chief Learner andDirector, Del hi Public School.