AI-Powered Personalized Learning: Ethical and Practical Integration into Contemporary Education

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping education by enabling personalized learning systems that adapt to individual learners’ needs, preferences, and contexts. These systems promise improvements in academic achievement, learner engagement, and inclusivity by breaking away from traditional one-size-fits-all teaching. However, large-scale adoption raises significant concerns about data privacy, algorithmic bias, academic integrity, and unequal access. This study conducts a systematic review of 62 peer-reviewed studies published between 2018 and 2025, supplemented by three case studies from India, Estonia, and the United States. Findings confirm that AI-powered personalized learning produces measurable learning gains and heightened motivation, especially when used in hybrid human-AI teaching contexts. At the same time, challenges around ethics, governance, and equity remain unresolved. The paper concludes with a multi-stakeholder roadmap for integrating AI ethically and sustainably into formal education systems, with recommendations for policymakers, educators, and researchers.