Report from Workshop on Dialogue alongside Artificial Intelligence

TL;DR

This paper summarizes discussions from an international workshop on the integration of AI in educational dialogue, exploring its benefits, risks, and the conditions for effective human-AI collaboration in learning environments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of expert perspectives on AI's role in education, highlighting critical questions and considerations for future research and policy development.

Findings

AI can enhance personalized learning and dialogue when used appropriately.

Risks include potential displacement of human educators and increased inequities.

Effective AI integration requires careful consideration of its impact on human agency.

Abstract

Educational dialogue -- the collaborative exchange of ideas through talk -- is widely recognized as a catalyst for deeper learning and critical thinking in and across contexts. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly emerged as a powerful force in education, with the potential to address major challenges, personalize learning, and innovate teaching practices. However, these advances come with significant risks: rapid AI development can undermine human agency, exacerbate inequities, and outpace our capacity to guide its use with sound policy. Human learning presupposes cognitive efforts and social interaction (dialogues). In response to this evolving landscape, an international workshop titled "Educational Dialogue: Moving Thinking Forward" convened 19 leading researchers from 11 countries in Cambridge (September 1-3, 2025) to examine the intersection of AI and educational dialogue. This AI-focused strand of the workshop centered on three critical questions: (1) When is AI truly useful in education, and when might it merely replace human effort at the expense of learning? (2) Under what conditions can AI use lead to better dialogic teaching and learning? (3) Does the AI-human partnership risk outpacing and displacing human educational work, and what are the implications? These questions framed two days of presentations and structured dialogue among participants.