Towards a Postdigital Social Contract for Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

This paper sketches contemporary transformations of social contract and outlines a path towards the development of a postdigital social contract for higher education in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). We set the scene by looking at existing research in AI and education. We then briefly discuss the idea of the ‘social contract’ as it has been conceived by both classic and contemporary authors. We also examine the more recent calls for a rethinking and reactualization of the social contract, given ongoing inequities of opportunity and societal disadvantage. Finally, we warn about the problems with mixing the algorithmic epistēmē and McPolicy, argue for a rehumanization of the policy discourse, insist on a shift from short-term hyping to sustainable development, and call for a rich, wide, and critically reflexive debate about how a postdigital social contract for higher education in the age of AI might look.