There is an increasing chorus of academic, vendor and commentator voices alerting us to the fact that in the wake of the technological revolution that is AI, learning is over. That it is an unassailable truth that we never knew what learning actually is. And now, you poor naive academics trying to navigate the hyperbolic shitstorm of AI, you have to come to terms with the fact that learning has been changed forever and you need to throw out everything you called learning and start all over again. Because of AI.

I have lost count of the fools chorus using their social media platforms to justify the diversion of academic effort away from transformation, inspiration, innovation and betterment to the all consuming inevitability of AI. Learning has always been and will continue to be fundamental to eduction. It is a human trait, a human joy and a human struggle that exists outside of technological hype or legitimate technological invention and shapes our journey and identity.

Two points:

ONE

We have been studying, debating, agreeing, disagreeing and moving theory forward about learning for millennia. There are absolutely brilliant examples of how learning is articulated, evidenced and designed, and there are, of course, terrible examples. But to say that we know nothing about learning (3 posts in my LinkedIn feed today) or that learning is now different from what is was 2 years ago because you know, AI (5 posts today) or that learning in this age of existential world shaping change needs to be completely redesigned (2 posts) is patently and objectively incorrect. We know a lot about learning and we know enough for me to make point 2.

TWO

I will not be told, by what is a grotesque of human intelligence or by those who anthromorphise it, monetise it, hero worship it or create an environment of fear around those who don’t fall in line, what I know about learning is wrong, a fakery, a lie or naive nostalgia pining for the good old days. We should not be told that the history of learning, the traditions, the theories, the reality of how it shaped all our lives is meaningless in the sharp gaze of generative AI.

Learning matters. The fact that, as a sector (and our regulators and policy makers), have for decades put learning into a death match with compliance has meant that the very core of our learning capability has been compromised. Adding AI to the mix, without criticality and debate, hinders our learning architecture and ecosystems even more. We are losing the argument that learning matters for and with our students, their parents, their employers and with the wider society we are there to help make better.

And the blind sprint towards AI being the apparent monotheistic catalyst for finally understanding what learning is, demeans everyone of us who believe in learning as a basic human right and the pathway to a better society. We need to shout loud and proud in comments, in committees, in casual conversations and in our research and teaching, that we know what learning is. Learning isn’t dead nor has it changed forever in the face of vendor hype and hallucinated error. Learning matters to the very future of our society. And its precious, tenuous and often fleeting. If we deny our history, we are indeed, doomed to repeat the errors of the past (or they just become the new facts in the era of the machine).