Journal of Peace Education

AI, Educational Technology and Peace Education

This special issue aims to  explore perspectives on, experiences of, and questions about generative artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to the theory and practice of peace education. In turn, it aims to draw on the insights and expertise of peace educators to shape understanding of the possibilities and limits, benefits and risks of emerging digital technologies in relation to progressive educational goals.

The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 rapidly accelerated awareness of and access to powerful AI technology, with other technology companies rapidly acting to offer their own Large Language Models (LLMs) and associated AI-based tools. Some commentators and entrepreneurs were very quick to highlight the potential of AI in education, with some high-profile actors (e.g. Bill Gates and Sal Khan) claiming that AI will transform how people learn in the future - more personalized, flexible, inclusive and efficient learning systems. At the same time, many educationalists have reacted with concern or alarm - about the potential for increased plagiarism, or about biases and inaccuracies in the information that AI tools generate, about a potential degradation of knowledge and skills, or impacts on jobs and professional roles in teaching. Others, particularly within the field of critical ed-tech, have provided an informed and sometimes more measured perspective, viewing the last developments through the lens of a long history of ed-tech hype and underperformance. Perhaps some of the worry is unfounded, or perhaps it will be different this time?

What do these developments and debates mean for those of us interested in the potential of education for social change, peace and/or social justice? What does AI and AI ed-tech look like through the lens of (critical) peace education? Are there some questions about AI and education that might be specific to our field – that are not being asked elsewhere? This special issue is an opportunity to initiate and frame discussion on this important and rapidly evolving topic within the scholarly peace education community.

Some potential areas for exploration might include:

• Learning from applications of / experiments with AI in peace education initiatives, in different contexts (e.g. emergency education, ‘post-conflict’ education, etc): what does evidence suggest about the benefits or limitations of AI in such contexts?
• Teaching about AI as part of peace curricula: Are there emerging examples of good practice – e.g. around AI and human rights, or AI, democracy and citizenship? How does this shape students’ or teachers’ understanding of and relationship to AI? [How] Does teaching about AI connect with or enhance wider peace education goals?
• Inclusive education: Can AI help realise aspirations for more inclusive educational spaces, methods and experiences? What evidence is there that AI makes education more ‘inclusive’, accommodating and responding to individual differences? What might a greater reliance on technology mean for the social and relational dimensions of learning?
• Critical and emancipatory education: If critical peace education / critical pedagogy involves enabling students to think and act in ways that speak to different [and more just] social possibilities and ways of living (Giroux, 2001), what new or different questions need to be at the heart of our teaching? What does it mean to empower students in an age of generative technology?
• Peace thinkers and educational technology: what traditions of thought exist within the body of peace scholarship that might guide us in thinking about AI and educational technology (for peace)?
• ‘Algorithmic violence’: Is AI empowering people through access to knowledge or by reducing language barriers? Or will its algorithms reduce the diversity or depth of thought, reproduce biases and prejudices, weaken empathy for others? How might new forms of AI/algorithmic violence intersect with, reinforce or ameliorate existing ones?
• Environmental implications of AI – and implications for environmental/peace education
• The hidden curriculum of AI: what values and assumptions are being taught, explicitly or implicitly, in AI-based education? To what extent do these align or not with ‘peace’ values?
• Cognitive offloading: Should we be concerned about increasing, potentially habitual reliance on digital tools for remembering and thinking? What might this imply for the development of critical thinking – and by extension – for the practices of democracy and citizenship?

Note: Although AI is the theme of the special issue, this should not be taken as permission to submit AI-generated content. Normal standards of authorship, transparency and originality will apply in the review process.