From Disposable Education to Acting in the World as a Human in the Time of AI

Abstract

This contribution presents two perspectives: one informed by AI expertise, and the other by knowledge from the field of educational sciences. The paper aims to question the purpose of education, repositioning it within Von Humboldt's model of the teaching and research university, for whom Bildung was the driving force.

In recent decades, the Global North has developed a system of disposable education that focuses on training a workforce for the market, with little regard for Bildung. This has resulted in the production of disposable knowledge and assessments, with the sole goal of achieving good grades and securing employment. Generative AI, which replicates how society works, is now clearly showing this situation.

This article first explains how automatic learning, the foundation of generative AI, works. Second, we shall discuss human deep learning, as opposed to surface learning, and demonstrate its necessity to develop as a person in the Bildung perspective. Finally, we move beyond the notion of AI as a revelator of our societies and engage in reflection on concepts of wisdom, responsibility and the art of questioning in philosophy.