Generative artificial intelligence and its educational implications for cultivating intellectual virtues

Abstract

The article examines the transformation of higher education under the influence of generative artificial intelligence (genai) technologies. It argues that the main risks in higher education associated with the active integration of genai stem from the internal contradictions of higher education itself. New technologies only exacerbate the problems inherent in higher education. The author contends that the educational challenges intensified by the use of genai are linked to its outcome-oriented approach at the expense of the learning process. Since genai is a tool for delegated problem-solving, its use in an outcome-centered education system creates a paradox: the possibility of achieving learning outcomes without engagement in the learning process.the resolution of this paradox is seen in a new higher education strategy based on cultivating epistemic virtues. Key principles include: (1) viewing learning as an open-ended process; (2) prioritizing the learning process over outcomes; (3) focusing on developing the learner’s epistemic virtues – curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual honesty, etc. In conclusion, the article asserts that the value of genai lies in exposing the flaws of the higher education system that need to be addressed. Simply integrating genai instrumentally into the old outcome-centered learning strategy cannot fundamentally transform higher education. A new approach is needed—one that places the learning process and the individual characteristics of the learner at the center.