Exploring Totalitarian Elements of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education With Hannah Arendt

Abstract

From the perspective of political philosophy, this article examines the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) applications in higher education contain totalitarian elements. Drawing on the theoretical considerations of Hannah Arendt, the author first identifies the key characteristics of total domination and then relates these to two AI applications in the field of higher education: adaptive learning systems and AI-based text generators. On this basis, the article elaborates on the similarities between concrete AI technologies and totalitarian structures. Finally, the author formulates questions that can be used to examine if concrete AI applications exhibit totalitarian traits. The aim of this theoretical contribution is to provide a perspective that will help to identify new dangers of AI or to see already known dangers in a new light, leading to a deeper and broader discourse on the consequences of AI.

Have Courage to Use your Own Mind, with or without AI: The Relevance of Kant's Enlightenment to Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

“…AI has a great disruptive potential for higher education and will strongly influence the future of university teaching and learning (Schön, et al, 2023). In this context, AIEd are characterised by different functions and a variety of possible uses (Watanabe, 2023a). While the use of AI was initially characterised by the development and research of assessment and feedback tools, early warning systems, intelligent tutors or adaptive learning environments (Crompton and Burke, 2023;Zawacki-Richter, et al, 2019), educational researchers and teachers are now showing increasing interest in commercial AI-based tools such as ChatGPT (Gimpel, et al, 2023;Lo, 2023;Schön, et al, 2023).…”

“…Independent writing plays an important role in this context, since a writing process is always accompanied by an independent thinking process (Luhmann, 1981, p. 222;Sumarno Kusumaningrum and Nurhayati, 2022). In text production using ChatGPT, this thinking has less room, since it is, only reflected in the formulation of the correct instructions to the conversational agent and the subsequent revision of the text (Watanabe, 2023a). The reduced writing experience thus has a generally negative effect on independent thinking and maturity.…”

“…Coeckelbergh, 2018;Friederich, 2023;Gordon and Becevel, 2021). In higher education, these broader considerations of the relationship between technology or AI use and universities are peripheral to current debates and tend to be considered sporadically (e.g., Castañeda and Selwyn, 2018;Macgilchrist, 2019;Watanabe, 2023a). However, as universities function as important public spaces, there is a need for a more intensive discussion on the extent to which AI-based teaching and learning are compatible with the fundamental goals and ideals of universities.…”