The Technological-Industrial Complex and Education - book overview

 This book, published in 2024 by Springer and written by S.M.S. Curtis, V. Desimoni, M. Crumley-Effinger, F.D. Salahan and t.d. Jules is titled 'The technological-Industrial complex and education: Navigating algorithms, datafication, and artificial intelligence in comparative and international education. 

The authors are academics from Universities in the US of A. 

There are seven chapters.

The first chapter - AI in comparative and international education (CIE) in the age of the anthropocene, sets out the rationale for the book and lays out the argument for a human-centred approach to AI. 

Chapter 2 'the rise of the technological-industrial complex and education 4.0' summarises the connections between Education 1.0 to 4.0 and Web 1.0 to 4.0. The chapter argues that education is connected to the developments and expansion of the Web. Education tends to lag behind the Web developments. In the context of CIE which began as colonisation projects, the process of decolonisation is important to help assure justice and equity for the benefit of all.

The third chapter 'the emergence and progression of AI in CIE) summarises the evolution of AI and cautions the utilisation of AI with the need for ethics.

Chapter 4 then continues on with 'beyond the anthropocene: ethics, equity and the responsible use of AI in CIE.

Following, 'using AI for educational research: methodological implications. Various ways AI may be useful including AI-powered conversational robots, machine learning, natural language processing and predictive analytics tools, provide opportunities for education research. Ethics is a key to how these are deployed.

Chapter 6 'regulatory responses and emerging global scripts in the governance of AI in education (GAIE). Various efforts at regulation are presented and discussed. Countries include the EU, Turkey, China, UNESCO and the US of A. 

The last chapter 'capturing the potential of pluriversal AI ecosystems' summarises the preceding chapters. Discussion is undertaken as to how decolonising AI in in the Industry 4.0 era has implications for CIE.

Overall, the book provides a good summary into the current understanding of AI and education within the CIE context. Discussions on future implications are useful, providing cautions but also possibilities when AI is deployed meaningfully, purposefully, and ethically.