Education for AI, not AI for Education: The Role of Education and Ethics in National AI Policy Strategies

As of 2021, more than 30 countries have released national artificial intelligence (AI) policy strategies. These documents articulate plans and expectations regarding how AI will impact policy sectors, including education, and typically discuss the social and ethical implications of AI. This article engages in thematic analysis of 24 such national AI policy strategies, reviewing the role of education in global AI policy discourse. It finds that the use of AI in education (AIED) is largely absent from policy conversations, while the instrumental value of education in supporting an AI-ready workforce and training more AI experts is overwhelmingly prioritized. Further, the ethical implications of AIED receive scant attention despite the prominence of AI ethics discussion generally in these documents. This suggests that AIED and its broader policy and ethical implications—good or bad—have failed to reach mainstream awareness and the agendas of key decision-makers, a concern given that effective policy and careful consideration of ethics are inextricably linked, as this article argues. In light of these findings, the article applies a framework of five AI ethics principles to consider ways in which policymakers can better incorporate AIED’s implications. Finally, the article offers recommendations for AIED scholars on strategies for engagement with the policymaking process, and for performing ethics and policy-oriented AIED research to that end, in order to shape policy deliberations on behalf of the public good.