Agency in the age of generative AI: a critical review of educational implications

Conversations regarding the societal implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and its integration into educational processes are ongoing. An area of great significance in this regard is agency, including how the use of AI technologies impacts an individual’s ability to exercise autonomy. In educational contexts, this remains a relatively unexplored yet vital subject. To shed light on this subject, this paper provides an exploratory thematic review of works which investigate the relationship between generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and agency in education, mapping and interpreting the available literature through the lens of critical digital pedagogy (CDP). The findings suggest that while GenAI may enhance learner agency through personalisation and support, it also risks exacerbating educational inequalities and diminishing learner autonomy in certain contexts. This review also contributes to new sociotechnical perspectives on AI, highlighting how GenAI technologies may shape and be shaped by power dynamics and pedagogical ideologies. This review contributes to the existing debate on how AI technologies can be deployed in education and society responsibly by exposing how the use of these technologies may lead to unintended impacts, including the entrenchment of inequality and the reshaping of concepts of individual agency, authorship, and autonomy.