AI & the future of learning: From Hidden Infrastructure to Everyday Interaction
AI has quietly powered our lives for decades, in recommendation engines, gaming, and social media platforms. What’s different today is the rise of language models. For the first time, AI isn’t hidden infrastructure; it’s a tool in everyone’s hands, accessible through ordinary conversation.
That shift changes education in profound ways. The question is no longer if AI will shape the way we learn, but how.
From Hidden Infrastructure to Everyday Interaction
When AI was invisible, it remained the domain of specialists. You had to speak to your data scientist, your IT, your developer. This is no longer the case.
Working with energy companies, I’ve seen how quickly copilots have become part of daily workflows. What surprises me most is not the seasoned experts but the younger professionals. With no baggage of “how things were done,” they experiment freely and often in ways I wouldn’t have imagined. Education is now at that same threshold.
Already, 86% of educational organizations worldwide use generative AI, the highest adoption across any industry (IDC 2024). On the learner side, surveys show 86% of students use multiple AI tools regularly, and over half use them weekly or daily. This makes AI less a future vision and more an everyday reality.
Now, that same accessibility is extending into our homes and classrooms. A student can use an AI tutor, a teacher can draft lesson plans with AI assistance, and a child can interact with AI without even realizing it. That accessibility is powerful, but it also raises new responsibilities.
We can’t treat AI in education as just another digital tool. It’s becoming part of the learning environment itself.
Three Priorities for Education Systems
If we want AI to add real value to education, three priorities stand out:
Clarity – Students, parents, and teachers need a grounded understanding on what AI is beyond coding with structured curriculums and roadmaps on how it integrates in our society.
A global survey found that 65% of students already use generative AI weekly and see it as essential for their future careers (Inside Higher Ed, 2025). This makes structured education on responsible use urgent.
Confidence – Equip teachers with resources and frameworks that make AI an ally, not a burden. It is not about adding another app, gadget and AI-enabled tools. Teachers need the resources and upskilling to deliver complex topics with confidence.
Today, 60% of teachers report using AI in their teaching, mainly for lesson planning, research, and feedback (Engageli, 2025). But they also emphasize the need for training and institutional support. Initiatives like the $23M Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic partnership with the American Federation of Teachers are examples of how to bridge that gap (TIME, 2025).
Critical Thinking – Tomorrow’s graduates must shape AI, not just consume it. They need to understand and questions the technologies of our world.
The UAE Example: Ambition Meets Implementation
The UAE illustrates this well: a national AI strategy matched by a willingness to test, pilot, and scale quickly. The real opportunity lies in classrooms, where ambition must meet daily implementation. That means investing not only in infrastructure but in teacher training, curriculum design, and student fluency.
If we fail to prepare the next generation, we risk creating passive consumers of technology rather than active shapers of it.
Preparing for an AI-Powered Future
The future of AI in education is not just about coding lessons or digital literacy. It’s about digital fluency: the ability to navigate, question, and ethically engage with AI across every subject and discipline.
Education has always been about more than memorizing facts. In an AI-driven world, it must also be about nurturing creativity, ethical reasoning, and human connection.
The choice is clear: AI can either empower a new generation of thinkers or reduce them to passive consumers. Education must choose empowerment.
