Reimagining education in the era of AI

The intelligent society is a new stage of social development in which artificial intelligence is deeply embedded in daily life. From production lines to classrooms, AI reshapes how we learn, work and govern. This era is characterized by human-machine collaboration, cross-sector integration and co-creation.

In education, this transformation is bringing about systemic changes, reshaping knowledge generation, educational institutions and talent cultivation. The 2026 Stanford AI Index Report indicates that AI's influence on society has never been more pronounced. But while AI capabilities and adoption accelerate rapidly, education systems are still struggling to adapt.

The fundamental purpose of education is still human development. Education should enable learners to develop judgment, responsibility, creativity, cooperation and moral agency. AI undoubtedly creates significant opportunities for education.

It can support personalized learning, adaptive feedback, language access, remote tutoring and more responsive learner support.

However, these opportunities are accompanied by substantial risks. Without clear educational goals, ethical safeguards and institutional guidance, AI may intensify inequalities, encourage superficial learning and weaken learner agency.

Therefore, the key issue is not whether AI should be used in education, but under what educational principles, institutional arrangements and social responsibilities it should be used.

This concern resonates with UNESCO's call for a new social contract for education, which emphasizes education as a public endeavor and a common good grounded in human dignity, social justice, cultural diversity, care, reciprocity and solidarity, all geared toward sustainable development. AI isn't just another educational tool; it is reshaping the educational contract and the relationship among stakeholders in education. Education systems must therefore renew the foundational pact of learning and education to support human development, social responsibility and sustainable futures.

Three long-term tensions are particularly important in this process. First, the conflict between immediate gains and long-term human development. AI can improve efficiency, convenience and performance.

It can generate answers, summarize texts and produce polished outputs rapidly. But education cannot be evaluated only by short-term productivity or visible outcomes. It must also cultivate long-term capacities such as attention, judgment, character, resilience and responsibility. If education is organized primarily around efficiency, its formative function will be weakened.

Second, the tension between individual awareness and collective consciousness. In AI-rich environments, information, opinions and emotions are increasingly mediated and amplified by platforms and algorithms.

Learners may be exposed to collective judgments before they have developed the capacity for independent reflection. Education must therefore strengthen learners' ability to ask questions, evaluate evidence, resist conformity and form reasoned judgments.

Last, the tussle between instrumental rationality and habitual dependence. While AI tools can assist learners in solving problems more efficiently, excessive reliance on them may result in cognitive outsourcing, whereby learners mistake the acquisition of answers for the development of understanding. The educational challenge is not to keep learners away from AI, but to ensure that AI complements but doesn't substitute cognitive engagement, inquiry and reflection.

To address these tensions, education must cultivate Intrinsic, Authentic, Agentic and Active learners. IAAA learners are intrinsically motivated by curiosity, meaning and autonomy; authentically connected to real-world problems, personal identities and meaningful social contexts; agentic in exercising voice, choice, goal-setting and responsibility; and active in constructing knowledge through inquiry, experimentation, creation and reflection.

Such learners are not passive recipients of information or algorithmic recommendations. They are self-directed, using AI responsibly without becoming dependent on it, maintaining human judgment, and linking personal growth with public responsibility.

However, learner self-commitment requires more than individual will. It depends on the coordinated efforts of multiple stakeholders. The renewed education pact should be a multilayered agreement connecting society, government, schools, families, teachers and learners.

Society and culture provide the value foundation of the common good, equity, inclusion and shared responsibility. Government and policy provide institutional guarantees through public resources, regulation, accountability and governance.

Schools and families translate social expectations into learning environments, curriculum, pedagogy and developmental support. Teachers and students sustain the core human relationship of education through care, engagement, feedback and adaptation. At the center are IAAA learners, whose self-commitment and development give the entire pact its educational meaning.

China's recent strides in becoming a leader in education, advancing a learning society and promoting AI-enabled educational transformation provide a meaningful reference for this renewal. The Smart Education of China platform reflects the idea of digital education as public infrastructure, expanding access to quality learning resources and supporting lifelong learning.

The AI Plus Education Action Plan integrates AI with curriculum reform, teacher development, rural education support, talent cultivation and education governance. Its significance lies not just in AI application, but in building a coordinated educational ecosystem that supports high-quality education, lifelong learning and modernization.

The future of education in the intelligent society will not be determined solely by technological innovation.

It will depend on whether societies can embed AI within a broader educational pact that protects human dignity, strengthens learner agency, supports the development of IAAA learners, and advances inclusive, equitable and lifelong learning. Only when AI serves human development and sustainable futures can it truly serve education.

Huang Ronghuai is the co-dean of the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and UNESCO Chair on AI in Education; Xu Lin is an educational researcher at the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and chief operating officer of the Global Smart Education Network.

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