Artificial intelligence, readiness-to-hand and the critical consciousness: meditations on the teaching-learning process

Abstract

This essay raises the issue of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of the reflective practitioner. We know that critical thinking on the subject must begin with whether to use the tool before deciding how and when to use it. The text approaches AI analytically under the concepts of readiness-to-hand and consciousness according to Vieira Pinto and existentialist phenomenology. We conclude that to define it more appropriately, it should be called a Language Model (LM). We then reflect upon the impacts of LMs on society and on everyday teaching practice, based on Baudrillard's concept of simulacrum and on a study on cognitive debt in the production of dissertational texts caused by the use of LMs. Finally, we address Freire's concept of praxis and its possible relationship with such technologies. The text concludes by raising the hypothesis that it is necessary to guarantee praxis as action and reflection, as well as lived experience, by avoiding the use of ML if it harms them.