A Freirean Reckoning with AI and Capitalism in the Pursuit of Humanizing Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Freirean Praxis on Humanizing Education

Abstract

This conceptual paper interrogates the integration of generative AI in education through a Freirean lens, arguing that the technology’s rapid adoption reflects a deeper crisis in contemporary schooling. Drawing on critical pedagogy, we contend that AI has been welcomed because it aligns with a system driven by neoliberal reforms, standardization, and performance metrics. Rather than catalyzing a new educational paradigm, AI reinforces a culture that deprioritizes inquiry, ambiguity, and relational meaning-making. We explore how tools like ChatGPT thrive in classrooms designed for speed and efficiency, while sidelining the intellectual struggle essential for authentic learning. Through classroom examples, policy critique, and philosophical reflection, we challenge policymakers to reimagine AI as a provocation and to reclaim the humanizing aspirations that defined education.

Authors

• Tiffany Karalis Noel, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Courtney Doxbeck, University at Buffalo - SUNY