Have Courage to Use your Own Mind, with or without AI: The Relevance of Kant's Enlightenment to Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education is a complex issue that can be discussed from many different perspectives. There is currently a great need for ethical discussions about the use of AI in universities. For example, educational researchers and teachers are already talking a lot about fairness, accountability, transparency, bias, autonomy, agency and inclusion of AI applications, and discussing these in terms of concrete teaching-learning settings. However, less explored are the implications of AI-enhanced teaching and learning in relation to fundamental educational ideals and goals. The article takes this research desideratum as a starting point by relating the use of AI in universities to Kant's reflections on enlightenment. The aim of this article is to theoretically analyse the compatibility of various AI tools with the ideal of maturity on an educational philosophical level and to formulate recommendations for action based on the results. Through a comprehensive literature review, the article analyses the impact of intelligent tutoring systems, ChatGPT and AI-supported research tools on students’ maturity and discusses both opportunities and challenges for higher education. The theoretical analysis shows that intelligent tutoring systems and ChatGPT threaten student maturity, while AI-supported research tools can have a positive effect.  In addition, the analysis provides several recommendations that can help to minimise the risks of AI applications in terms of student maturity. The educational principle of research-based learning is of particular importance in this context, illustrating how students can learn to use AI tools responsibly and maturely. In this sense, the paper presents a theoretical study that fundamentally reflects on the maturity of students in the age of AI and thus both encourages teachers in the field of e-teaching to critically reflect on AI-based tools and provides a basis for further empirical research.