AI in Schools: Who’s Really in Charge of Learning?

A new academic paper is sounding the alarm about AI in schools — not because it’s bad at teaching, but because it might be changing who gets to decide what’s true. The author, Biranchi Poudyal, calls this shift “epistemic agency” — the power to shape what we believe is real knowledge. Right now, teachers guide students, check their work, and decide if they’ve learned something. But AI tools like chatbots or grading assistants can do some of that work automatically. That sounds helpful, but Poudyal warns it could quietly move authority from teachers and schools to students and tech systems.

The paper introduces a new idea called the “Ecological Co-Agency Framework.” In simple terms, it’s a set of rules to make sure humans — not algorithms — stay in charge of deciding what students learn and how their success is measured. It’s like making sure the referee, not the video replay system, still has the final say in a soccer game.

Poudyal points out that current AI tools don’t always share data fairly or let teachers control how student information is used. Tech companies might collect data on your child’s learning habits, and students might start trusting AI answers more than their teachers. That could change how students think about truth, evidence, and even their own role in learning.

So what’s the fix? The paper calls for clear rules: keep teachers in charge of what knowledge matters, make sure student data stays private, and ensure AI tools are used to support — not replace — human judgment in the classroom.