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Abstract
Software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is used widely in the United States in education as a tool for teaching, administration, student assessment, and other purposes. Curriculum delivery, tutoring, support for students with disabilities and resource allocations are some of the applications of the technology. The normative, ideological, and logistical concerns with AI’s use in schools are equal to the benefits. Disparities are introduced, mechanisms to scale up poor pedagogical practices are provided, the agency of students and educators is impeded, and democracy is threatened by AI in education at all levels. The data generated through students’ interaction with AI applications introduces ethical issues regarding student privacy and surveillance, data ownership, the deepening enmeshment of corporations in education, and insufficient legal protections for citizens and students (Couldry & Mejias, 2019, p. 3; Prinsloo et. al, 2022, p. 878-879; Richards, 2022, p. 3; Stockman & Nottingham, 2022, p. 4; Williamson et al., 2020, p. 334-335).
A clear path for AI’s integration is elusive for practitioners, decision-makers and administrators. No holistic manual to guide the ethical application of AI in education (AIEd) has been devised. There is a vitally important need for an ethical framework governing AIEd that is comprehensible and comprehensive, applicable, and aspirational for practitioners. This research identified the components of an ethical framework for AIEd that capitalized on the advantages of the technology’s use while mitigating harms and inequities to students, educators, and society. The principles of Stoic philosophy and the cardinal virtues of the doctrine are generalizable across populations and provided a theoretical lens with which to guide the investigation.
