Sustainable Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization: A Value-Critical Approach

Synthesis: Alsuhaymi and Atallah (2026) offer a qualitative, value-critical analysis of whether — and under what conditions — AI contributes to sustainable education in the age of digitalization. They argue AI does not exert a uniform, inherently positive or negative influence on educational sustainability; its effects are conditional and governance-mediated. Distinguishing sustainable education (a value-based, human-centered project), sustainability in education, and education for sustainable development (ESD), the authors show that AI contributes to sustainable education only when its adoption is subordinated to explicit educational values and human-centered purposes — and undermines it when technologization and commodification are allowed to erode those values.

Key Findings

1. AI's effect on educational sustainability is conditional, not automatic. Whether AI supports or erodes sustainable education depends on how its adoption is governed and to what values it is subordinated — not on the technology itself.
2. Three distinct framings must be distinguished. Sustainable education (human-centered, value-based), sustainability in education (treating education as an instrument for sustainability), and education for sustainable development (ESD, the policy-oriented global agenda) are different projects that AI serves differently.
3. Digitalization brings dual pressures. The same developments that enable personalization and efficiency also accelerate technologization and commodification, threatening the erosion of educational values and human-centered purposes.
4. Value-critical analysis is the corrective lens. A value-critical approach surfaces the normative commitments embedded in AI-mediated education, arguing that sustainability must be reclaimed as a value-based project rather than reduced to technical efficiency.

Relevance to AI and sustainability in education

This paper anchors the sustainable AI in education concept page's normative dimension: it frames sustainability not as a technical or environmental metric but as a value-based, human-centered educational project. It connects directly to Ethics in AI education, to Governance (the conditions under which AI use is responsibly governed), and to the knowledge base's treatment of AI's critical and philosophical dimensions.

Connected Concepts

• Sustainability
• Ethics
• AI Education
• Generative AI
• Governance
• Critical Pedagogy
• Philosophy Of AI In Education
• Higher Ed

Citation

Alsuhami, A. O., & Atallah, F. A. (2026). Sustainable Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization: A Value-Critical Approach. Sustainability, 18(3), 1257.