Aied as cognitive assemblage and the concrete utopia of education as a weak effort

In this article, we discuss the possibility of adopting an experimental attitude towards Artificial intelligence in education (Aied). We contend that such an attitude requires reconsidering the ways in which we commonly think about both Artificial intelligence (Ai) and education. First, we argue that this reconsideration involves taking seriously the idea that education has always been artificial. This means assuming the embeddedness of education within cognitive technical environments and acknowledging that Ai, as a form of nonconscious cognition, is in fact crucial to education. This perspective also challenges any simplistic desire to control the trajectories of cognitive assemblages. Second, we critically discuss the risks associated with conceptualiza- tions of Aied that fail to distance themselves from current trends in the learnification of education and from the related desire to control even the most minute aspects of educational processes in the name of continuous optimization. In our reading, such forms and uses of Aied eradicate the possibility for both human beings and AI itself to be addressed, interrupted, and put into ques- tion by the other, thereby undermining the educational value of this relationship. By contrast, we argue that a valuable way of staying with Aied lies in renouncing the hubris of control and instead searching for forms of Aied capable of unlocking the concrete utopian potential of a weak educa- tion. Overall, we contend that combining these two moves offers a promising way to engage with the relationship between the coming into the world of Ai and contemporary educational practice and policy.